Editor:
I found Laurie Rose’s letter (Mailbox, Sept. 22) in response to mine, very curious. She seems to understand that the COVID vaccines do not reliably stop transmission of the virus, which was the point of my letter. So why did she call my letter “misinformation?”
She appears to have read quite a lot into my brief letter. When I point out that officials admitted, updated, if you will, their message regarding the vaccines, she claims that I imply we were formerly lied to. That is her interpretation, not my statement.
As to my statement “it is disturbing,” that referred to Terry Torgerson’s message in his cartoon, promoting the erroneous idea that the vaccines “stop the spread.”
I did find Ms. Rose’s letter disturbing in one aspect. She claims, “From almost the beginning, scientists, epidemiologists and other health professionals let us know the vaccines would not necessarily prevent you from getting the virus.” While there were those who pointed this out early on, they were largely ignored, and even derided and censored. The COVID narrative that we were sold, told us the vaccines were: “Absolutely Safe. Absolutely Effective.” By effective, we were told they would prevent infection and stop the pandemic. This expectation was promulgated in the largest PR campaign in human history. It took a long time before a more nuanced view of the vaccines entered the narrative. To claim otherwise is to rewrite history.
Amy Gustin, Ettersburg
This article appears in They Were Entitled to Free Care..
Amy Gustin and others might benefit from reading this:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022…
TL;DR — “The team found that among individuals with COVID-19, those who received at least one vaccine shot were 24% less likely to infect close contacts.”
Of course, this is of no interest if, for whatever reasons, you only wish to hear about studies that support your preexisting point of view. And I suppose there’s an argument to be made that those who get vaccinated are less likely to spread the virus because they have more concern for others and so use other techniques to reduce their chances of infecting others.
Those of us who have lived through the tobacco industry’s denials and the fossil fuel industry’s denials and the trump industry’s denials need not be surprised that denial helps some people cope with facts they find inconvenient.
Shoot anybody who did history should tell everyone not to trust government. They massacre every race and hang a flag to rub it in everyones face,then build military to keep us safe,nope to keep us at bay,what, you think slavery was over,ignorent or blind denial.slavery is still a choice,i wont be no slave i will fight or die for mine,like my people did. I sure as hell wont shave my slave owner neck for 50 years and not slice it,and puffy was right.
What nobody did history or heard from elders,trust the government,why.they massacred every race for greed then hang a flag to rub it in everyones faces,so salute on,honor it and honor the pepple who murdered all them women,kids,babies,innocent people,who were just liveing. Oh trust me they will all make exscuse not differences.just like these “pretendians” that work for wiyot tribe and its council members,and all the outside followers that support what these people do to the wiyot tribe reservation residents.karma people karma,believe in that no matter what religious beliefe you have. We all know that much.
Oh thank you government for building military gaurd to protect us people,huh yeah more like protect them,from someone doin the same to them,but not everyones scared,noway. They wanna own the earth,space,the whole atmosphere,water,air,people.i aint nobodies slave.
Mitch Tractenberg might just open his eyes to see all of the vaccinated people getting sick and dying around him, but he didn’t notice the suffering that resulted from lockdown measures, and showed no compassion for the people who lost their jobs, businesses, and loved ones who they could not be with during their final hours, even though those measures saved no lives and did tremendous damage. Instead, Mitch is so afraid of Covid that he didn’t even notice the slide into totalitarianism. His cowardice blinds him to the suffering of others and demands that the rest of us sacrifice our health, businesses, and lives to protect him from the Covid boogieman.
John,
I pointed out that vaccination helps, according to scientists and doctors. We are both endangered by our cynical natures, I suspect, but I continue to believe that on matters of COVID, the voice of people who have devoted their lives to understanding molecular biology and/or public health is of more value than the voice of people who have become famous, wealthy, or powerful. I’ve watched our slide into totalitarianism for most of my adult life, and I’m aware that the truth is one of its early victims. I just disagree with you about where the truth is found.
If wearing a mask and getting vaccinated makes me a coward, guilty as charged. I’m also afraid of cancer, ebola, and drunk drivers, among many other things.
Compassion? I guess my belief is that when a million people in our country die unnecessarily from a transmissible disease that could be controlled by public health measures, reducing the transmission is compassionate. Of course, if you know that disruptive public health measures have not saved lives, a good approach would be to offer evidence of that, and let it be weighed along with the other evidence that others offer. After all, I’ve heard from the President of the United States that we should have all swallowed bleach to disinfect our insides and that would probably have solved everything. The President of the United States!