‘I’m not ready to jump on it yet’: VSU students weigh in on vaccines as fall semester begins

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - Valdosta State University (VSU) students returned to regular schedules and face-to-face instruction this week.

WALB News 10 spent some time on campus, chatting with students about the vaccine and whether or not they’re vaccinated.

We received a mix of responses and reasons.

“Are you guys vaccinated?” asked WALB News 10′s Jennifer Morejon. “I am,” said Jacob Wilson, a student at VSU.

“I am not, I have not gone. I haven’t had a good reason. I’ve had it before but I just haven’t gone and gotten it,” said Caleb Hitchcock.

High foot traffic, packed classes, and a lively attitude.

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Wilson and Hitchcock are both sophomores, they say they’re glad to be back in person, able to meet people.

Emily Edmondson and Morgan Jubran are experiencing their first campus life atmosphere as well.

They were fully online as freshmen.

“It’s definitely overwhelming, I’ve never seen it this crowded. It’s very crazy,” said Edmondson.

“It’s just pretty packed, so kind of concerning, but also I guess it’s a sense of normalcy,” said Jubran.

Both tell us they’re not vaccinated.

“There’s no long-term studies yet and I already have other health issues and I don’t want to compromise anything,” said Edmondson.

“Same thing, it’s still new and I’m not ready to jump on it yet,” said Jubran.

Sawyer Baltimore shares a similar opinion.

“I’m not vaccinated because it’s not fully FDA approved yet and if it was, I would be vaccinated, but since it’s not, I just don’t fully trust it yet. I have family members who are vaccinated. None of them have had any bad reactions to it but I want to be completely sure first,” said Baltimore.

Currently, the FDA approved the vaccines for emergency use.

The approval process is lengthy.

Pfizer submitted their application in May, it’s still being reviewed.

Two students that do not share these views and are fully vaccinated are Cameron Johnson and Fatimah Cisse.

“It’s very hard, knowing that there is a possibility that we can go back to another lockdown. But I’m definitely encouraging people to either get vaccinated or wear their masks so we can hopefully prevent this from going further than it already is,” said Johnson.

Cisse tells us she has asthma and feared what COVID-19 could do.

Johnson says she was scared at first but decided to get it to help keep everyone safe.

Johnson and Cisse hope everyone does their part so things can remain normal.

“It’s just better to keep everybody safe so we don’t have to go through what we went through last year. It’s just not it,” said Cisse.

VSU will track COVID-19 numbers on campus.

They’ll post the first report Friday.

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