MURRAY, NEB.–The pandemic is creating more than just Covid-19-related health concerns. It is also opening the gateway for diseases such as whooping cough, measles, and polio. Wait what?!?!?! What does polio or whooping cough or the measles have to do with the coronavirus? Not much except for one small thing: vaccines.

Every year, millions of children are vaccinated against all of these illnesses, but in 2020 people are keeping their distance, and that means they’re not getting these essential vaccines. Trying to avoid one virus could open us up to a whole slew of others.

We already saw the effects of people not getting vaccinated in 2019. You might have heard about the measles outbreak, which the cdc tells us had the highest number of measles cases in 27 years.

Even after vaccines for the coronavirus are distributed, we may be facing yet another epidemic of potentially deadly and harmful viruses. Only these outbreaks would be 100 percent preventable by people simply taking the necessary vaccines.

Another side effect Covid-19 presents is the number of people who are unable to get surgeries or treatments because of overflowing hospitals. Though not counted in the official tally, these deaths are another casualty of the pandemic, one we don’t typically realize exists.

It is important that we continue to fight through our current predicament. We’re in the home stretch. Vaccines have been developed and will be on their way soon. But they’re not here just yet, so it’s important that we don’t give up on our safety precautions. Don’t let the virus overwhelm us when we’re so close to beating it. Keep your guard up and wear a mask.