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Pedro Rodriguez.
Finding a New Home
Gracey Saavedra, Staff Writer • November 17, 2023

  UMKC senior and finance major Pedro Rodiguez knows first-hand how difficult it can be to assimilate into a new university.    As a...

The Epperson House is closed to visitors, but can be seen from the distance around campus.
The Spooky History of the Castle on Campus
Aurora Wilson, Lifestyle and Culture Editor • October 31, 2023

  Located at the corner of Cherry and 52 St., the Epperson House looms over UMKC’s campus, haunting students who dare to walk past it.    Construction...

Dr. Villamandos and Dr. Grieco in front of Sancho Panza in the Twentieth Century
UC Berkeley Art Historian To Speak on Historic Haag Murals
Lauren Zoller, Staff Writer • October 30, 2023

  A University of California Berkeley art historian will present her research on Luis Quintanilla, a world-renowned artist whose murals have...

Tayler and the cast sit as they prepare for more filming.
You Are Now Leaving Godly
Lydia Schneider, Staff Writer • October 20, 2023

  Tayler Gilbert, UMKC senior and professional photographer, is putting the final touches on his new film, “Welcome to Godly.”    Gilbert...

Abigail Weiler holds her business card.
Clayful by Abbie
Gracey Saavedra, Staff Writer • October 18, 2023

 Abigail Weiler, fourth-year political science and French major at UMKC, delivers confidence in the form of handmade polymer clay jewelry.    Her...

Student reflection: COVID-19 is an unfriendly visitor

Student+reflection%3A+COVID-19+is+an+unfriendly+visitor
UMKC offers free vaccinations to its campus community through University Health. (Illumina)

“Thank God I am vaccinated,” I thought as I sat in bed with body aches that pulsed through me like an electric current. 

Despite having two full doses of the Pfizer vaccine, my summer vacation this past August ended with an unfriendly visitor—COVID-19. 

The adrenaline rush of clubbing in Chicago ended abruptly with a scratch in my throat that soon developed into a hellish fever of 103 degrees. My head throbbed so intensely it mirrored the floors of the clubs I was drunkenly dancing on the week prior. 

My nights under neon lights took a sharp left turn into two weeks under the covers of a blanket, quarantined in my parents’ basement with a sleeve of saltine crackers at my bedside. How did I so quickly get to the point where I was asking myself, “Should I get my parents to drive me to the hospital?”

Being locked away in my parents’ basement did allow me to test a theory. In my house, our laundry room is attached to the bedroom downstairs where I was serving my two-week-long prison sentence. Hovering my nose over a gallon of bleach, I expected to be met with the astringent smell of chemicals. Nothing

As my senses of taste and smell completely left my body, I could not help but question my privilege. What if I was over the age of 70? What if I had a preexisting condition?

For many Americans, this is the harsh reality of the world we have been living in these past two years as COVID continues to take the lives of the innocent. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, I have always taken the pandemic seriously by religiously wearing my mask and getting vaccinated. But I would be lying if I said this experience of getting COVID firsthand did not serve as a wake-up call. 

If COVID-19 can knock me out as a healthy 21-year-old male, it sure as hell can do it to you, too. With full FDA approval of the original Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and now the ability to receive the corresponding booster shots, I beg my young peers to please get fully vaccinated.

Getting the original vaccine is a great first step, but in order to maintain immunity and end this real-life hell we have all collectively been living in, we must remain diligent and get our booster shots. 

According to the CDC, breakthrough COVID-19 infections after being vaccinated result in far less severe symptoms compared to the unvaccinated. This means the vaccinated who happen to get COVID-19 are statistically less likely to require hospitalization or die compared to people who are not vaccinated.

With this information in mind, I thank God I chose to get vaccinated early and pray for those who choose to live in ignorance. 

UMKC offers free vaccinations to our campus community through University Health, which can be reached at (816) 404-CARE (2273).

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