On Thursday, August 26th, Dr. Jorge Morales welcomed back all students along with their families in a short ceremony on the quad for Back to School Night. Since being back on campus, the school’s number one priority has been keeping the students and staff of South El Monte High School safe and healthy. South has partnered with Fulgent Genetics, to provide the Pfizer vaccine, to get Eagles and their families vaccinated, free of charge. In order to receive the vaccination all that was needed was a form of identification, such as a school ID or California ID. Minors did require a parent or guardian’s verbal consent prior to receiving the shot. The process was quite simple, first, the individual had to provide their full name, phone number, address, and email. Afterwards, the nurses uploaded the given information into their records then directed the individual to the nurse administering the shot.

As the nurse sterilized the needle, she went over possible symptoms that one may encounter after receiving their first dose of the vaccine. The symptoms include muscle pain, swelling, redness, shortness of breath, tiredness, headache, chills,  nausea, and fever. She warned the individuals they may be sore and encouraged them to stretch to prevent it. Once the shot had been given, the nurse gave the individual a sticker, along with a vaccination card instructing them to come back on the 16th of September. There was an observation area where patients were to be seated directly after receiving the vaccine to make sure an allergic reaction didn’t occur. Patients were to sit in the observation area for 15 minutes before leaving. 

Everyone who received their first dose on the 26th of August was instructed to return to the same place on the 16th of September to receive their second dose. Senior, Zujey Ramirez, recently received her second dose. “I do feel a little safer knowing I am vaccinated, at first I was super hesitant to get vaccinated but I know eventually I would have to get it.” Her reasoning behind getting vaccinated was to lower her risk of spreading the virus and to keep herself and those around her safe. Zujey encourages others to get the vaccine to stop the spread of coronavirus.