Where are the Vaccines? 

Editor:

Now that the state has issued guidance that all people over 65 should be able to receive their vaccination, I fail to understand why Humboldt County is not following this guidance. We are not advocating for local control as far as the tier system goes and I have seen the importance of a unified response touted in the media availabilities, so why should we deviate from this stance now? 

We need mass vaccination sites set up. We need our major healthcare systems, Open Door and St. Joeseph, contacting eligible patients and setting up appointments. If we do not have the resources we need, we should be in contact with the state and not resting until the things we need are in place. This is not a time to be "inviting" people to set up their appointments it is a time for making sure that our most vulnerable are protected. Healthcare workers have had weeks, nearly a month, to get that set up. It is time to follow the guidance of our state officials. 

West Virginia, one of the poorest and most rural states in our country, has had a huge success in getting over 70 percent of available vaccines distributed and the other 30 percent are allocated to those in need. I believe that if they can do it, so can we. I believe that Public Health needs to be more transparent with the public as to why we are not following the state and federal guidance on this matter. I believe that if we have the resources and ability to get our healthcare workers vaccinated, we can also get our elders vaccinated. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for action before our hospitals become overwhelmed and we lose even more of our loved ones. 

Anna Tupper Eureka

Editor:

Schools being closed has been and is a disaster of immense proportions. To think that grade schoolers, or most high schoolers for that matter, can come up with the equipment, the quiet space and the discipline to attend online classes is just laughable, or would be if it weren't so sad. Besides that, school serves an important societal function beyond academics, teaching youngsters how to be citizens, freeing the parents to work, etc.

When I read the state's vaccine priority list last week, teachers were in the second slot, sort of, making my letter unnecessary. But this week's version doesn't even mention them, so here is my simplified priority list for administering the vaccine:

1) Front line health care workers, people who deal with patients.

2) Front line elementary and high school teachers and support staff. Get this done and open schools next month. Then likewise with vocational schools and colleges.

3) Everyone else. Personally, I would start with people who serve the public, grocery store and hardware store clerks for instance, then fan out from there.

People who refuse to get the vaccine? People who want to exercise their "rights," the right to be infected and to infect others? I ask them what is the very first word of the Constitution?

David Callow, Glendale