Every day, high school seniors grapple with both deadlines and the possibility of being dead. It’s not just the pandemic. Systemic racial injustice, political insurrection, and the rapidly declining economy are all sitting in 2021’s cramped waiting room with little possibility of a near-future solution. 

However, it appears that the college process will stop for no one. 

As 2020 came to a close on December 31st, 2.8 million Americans had been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The United States had set a goal for 20 million vaccinations by 2021. So far, the U.S. vaccine rollout has fallen short. Debates around federal and state-level logistics are ongoing. However, it is important to understand how we got here in the first place.