At Berlin High School there are many teenagers who are students as well as front line health care workers. With the vaccine going to healthcare workers first, group 1A, these students within the last couple weeks have been eligible to get vaccinated. 

“I work at Patriot Place as a CNA. Getting vaccinated was offered on Monday Jan. 11 and I was able to get the vaccine that Thursday the 14,” senior Abby Eckelberg said. 

Right now there are two approved vaccines that people are allowed to receive. One made by Moderna and the other by Pfizer. 

“In Green Lake County the first doses are the Pfizer vaccine. We will probably be getting other formulations as time goes on based on what is available,” Green Lake County Public Health Officer Kathy Munsey said. “If you do get a formulation that requires two vaccines for full protection, you must use the same brand both times.”

Getting the COVID vaccine may seem like it should be required for all frontline healthcare workers, but that is not the case.

“Working at Whispering Pines in Ripon, getting vaccinated for COVID-19 isn’t necessarily mandatory for us, it was definitely encouraged. Some of my coworkers and residents have already had COVID, but got the vaccine just to be safe,” senior Grace Bauer said. “I think it’s good that we have the option but aren’t mandated by our company.”

Where and when people get vaccinated can vary. For Eckelberg, getting her shot required her to go to the Green Lake Public Health Center.

“At the Green Lake Public Health Center I had to check in and this is where they took my temperature and I gave them a form that my mom had to fill out because I am a minor,” Eckelberg said. “They then took me to another room and gave me the shot. After getting the shot they had me wait there 15 minutes to make sure I did not have an allergic reaction.”

When it comes time to get vaccinated many are afraid that the shot will hurt, but this was not the case for Eckelberg.

“Getting the shot felt nothing different then getting the flu shot,” Eckelberg said. “The only side effects that I have slightly noticed from it is going from hot to cold in a short period of time or vice versa and soreness in my arm.”

Many people may wonder, when am I able to get the vaccine? Or what group am I in? But as of now many of these answers are still up in the air. The different phases and who is in each phase has not been completely decided. 

“The other groups are not set in stone yet, but 1B will be law enforcement and other public facing essential workers,” Munsey said. “1B is in discussion at this time with the State of WI Emergency Operations Center and they are discussing the other phases as well.”

Click here to see the total number of vaccines distributed:  https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations