Congressman Don Beyer: Please Get Vaccinated

Originally published in the Falls Church News Press


As of this week, every Virginian adult aged 16 and older is eligible to get a free Covid-19 vaccine.

This vaccine will save your life.

It will save lives of your family, your friends, your neighbors and coworkers.

For over a year our country has undertaken a historic vaccination development effort, a scientific feat on the order of the Manhattan Project or the Apollo Program. Then we initiated a vaccination effort that rivals America’s mobilization in World War II as a logistics challenge.

Our scientists, engineers, and medical professionals have achieved a series of technical miracles to deliver this vaccine to all of us, to save our lives.

It is our duty to get vaccinated as soon as we can, if not for ourselves, then for our community.

Only then can we stop the spread of this disease and help end the pandemic, prevent more people getting sick, and allow the safe and continued reopening of our businesses and schools.

I recently helped dedicate a memorial to Alexandrians who have died from Covid. The same loss is felt in every town, city, county, state, and country around the world. We can honor the memory of those we lost by getting vaccinated and helping save lives.

This week I joined Governor Northam, Senator Warner, Chairman McKay, and public health officials to announce the opening of a long-awaited mass vaccination site In Tysons Corner. As public leaders we are working to make it as easy as we can to get vaccinated. That’s why Congress passed my bill to make vaccines free for everyone in the CARES Act, and why we passed the American Rescue Plan to provide for a national vaccination program. It’s also why we have continually focused on promoting vaccination equity, so that people from all different communities and backgrounds will have access to vaccinations.

The final steps depend on you.

Half of adults in the both the country and the Commonwealth have now gotten at least one shot, but we need more progress to get to herd immunity. All of us can help.