a. What challenges did you overcome throughout this inquiry project? How did you go about
overcoming these challenges?
There is an abundance of information about vaccination, which is great because I didn’t have to spend a long time looking for sources. However, since there are so many details and different aspects, I was worried my posts would become too scientific, complicated, and hard to read. With a subject like this, it’s easy to get lost in scientific terms and textbook explanations. Although vaccines and the immune system are very complicated, I think that everyone can understand it, as long as it’s explained using language they understand. I grew up watching magic schoolbus and wild kratts on tv, learning most of my basic science knowledge that way. Using this as inspiration, I tried my very best to make my posts simple, with a good mix of essential scientific terms and easy to read language.
b. How did this inquiry change the way you think?
Now that I understand better how vaccines and the immune system work, I find myself constantly applying this knowledge in my thought process. Since we are living during a pandemic right now, this new knowledge is very relevant, and has provided me with the tools to understand and question the current health choices being made. The most significant way it has changed my perspective is that I am now concerned when people express their negative view of vaccination, because I understand that it is important for everyone who can get vaccinate to do so, in order to protect our society as a whole. Our decisions impact not only us, but others as well, and I think that this is very important to keep in mind.
c. How did this investigation impact your future decisions?
Recently, I had the opportunity to get vaccinated, and this research hugely impacted my decision. Prior to having the knowledge I now have, I would have been sceptical. Now however, I quickly decided to take the vaccine without hesitation. There is a lot of confusion surrounding vaccination, so whenever I speak to others about it, I make sure to share the information I’ve learnt, as I think it will help others make their own decisions.
d. What impact will this investigation have on others locally and/or globally?
I hope that the people who have read my post have gained a better understanding of vaccines, something so essential yet so little understood by the majority of people. As I mentioned, there is so much confusion surrounding vaccination, making it hard to gain a good understanding of what’s going on. It’s difficult, because without a good understanding, I get how vaccination can seem dangerous. After all, you are having a substance you don’t know about being injected into your body, causing effects you also don’t quite understand. But now that I have shared my research, I hope my readers and the people I have spoken to are equipped with the proper information to make their own decisions.