Letters to the Editor — COVID vaccines bring out the arguments

Abbott the obstructionist

As we watched the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001 and the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans, the governor of Texas and several other “red” states appear poised to end the deaths of more than 600,000 Americans and 50,000 Texans in To Buy As They Challenge Any Acceptable Public Health Action To Stop The COVID-19 Virus Attack On Americans and Texans.

Governor Greg Abbott remains unwilling to take medical advice from inside and outside Texas and best practices to protect not only the state’s adults, but the children returning to school and those who teach them.

In addition, he is making a mandatory vaccine in a time of crisis for criminal rather than public health modality to save adults and now children. How is this different from the recently signed abortion law?

He has established his place in history and will long be known as an obstructionist who bears some responsibility for the illnesses and death of many. When voting, keep in mind who the anti-scientists are. Desiring to have taken the vaccine is not going to save you from the ill effects of COVID-19 or alleviate the disease.

Charles R. Rosenfeld, Dallas

Look for exceptions to the Biden rules

As someone recovering from a somewhat mild case of COVID-19, why are there no exceptions to these draconian mandates from President Joe Biden? I think antibody tests are so much more reliable than anything else.

Shame and marginalize as some of your letter writers only divide and marginalize our nation. I personally know many people who have had side effects from the vaccines and others who have not had any problems. It is a personal health choice and as such should be respected.

Anton Skell, Plano

Vaccine refusers hurt the rest of us

Re: “Mocking vaccine resistance doesn’t help – we should focus on getting the message across, not ridiculing people,” September 10 editorial.

While your editorial asking for your understanding of vaccine deniers has a few valid points, it is not enough to ignore or overlook the tremendous harm that “deniers” are doing to the rest of us. In the high-risk group that my wife and I belong to, that is no consolation to the fact that the failure of large parts of the population to follow scientific public health guidelines leaves so many of us huddled in our homes and scared going out to the grocery store, to the doctor’s appointment, etc.

I don’t have the right to kill others, and they shouldn’t have the right to risk my life. They have essentially left out the enormous role of conspiracy theorists politicizing a public health crisis for their own benefit.

I remember vividly that I was in sixth grade when the Salk vaccine was announced and everyone was rushing to get it without significant objections from any false news political party. The conspiracy theorists have created the impression that there are real doubts about the virus, the vaccine and the masks. What a crime against our democracy, to play off the ignorance and bigotry of the people. As a doctor, I say get vaccinated, save your life, protect others.

Jerold Lancourt, Dallas

Start solutions, not arguments

From the perspective of working families and retirees, your editorial against further polarization over COVID-19 was spot on. Certain politicians want us to argue about vaccine and mask rules because that will fuel their own plans, not because it will do something for us. Working people and retirees want solutions, not shameless arguments and divisions!

Gene Lantz, Dallas

Real fear of needles

I flinch every time I see a news report encouraging people to get vaccinated. These representations can have the opposite effect. Many people have a real fear of needles.

Don Martin, Cedar Hill

Why we can’t beat the virus

On September 11, 2001, America was attacked and the country rallied to fight an enemy. Today the whole world is under attack from the deadly coronavirus. Yet many Republican Party politicians say that we as individuals have no responsibility to work together to stop this enemy. They say that individual choices trump loyalty to the physical and economic security and health of our country. And I fear these politicians are doing this for selfish, ambitious reasons, not for the good of the Americans.

Daryl Davis, Dallas

Where’s polio now?

I was in elementary school when polio broke out. Parents and children were scared. We couldn’t go to the swimming pool or any gatherings. One day I got sick and was in bed with a fever. It was the only time I saw my father cry. When the vaccine was approved, we all rushed to get it. I think it was actually in a sugar cube. My question to the hesitant: where is polio now? Wasn’t it a virus?

Don Karns, Dallas

Draw in the numbers

I ask The Dallas Morning News to put a chart on the front page every day:

– Current COVID-19 hospital stay: xxx.

– Hospitalization without vaccination: xxx.

-% hospitalized without vaccine: xxx.

– COVID-19 deaths since August 1: xxx.

—COVID-19 deaths patient not vaccinated: xxx.

-% COVID-19 deaths in non-vaccinated patients: xxx.

I’m also asking the state of Texas to improve its highway message boards by year-to-date traffic reporting and YTD COVID-19 deaths.

I think this information is important, relevant and appropriate for the public. It will also demonstrate The News and Texas’ commitment to COVID-19 information and improving vaccination rates.

Mike Conroy, grapevine

Be a good American

Everyone has an opinion about COVID-19 vaccinations. Imagine for a minute if the unvaccinated people got their vaccinations months ago. Hundreds of thousands could have been saved and billions of lost dollars in profits and salaries could have been saved because the stores could have stayed open. It could have created more jobs and increased profits.

Any American would have been safer today. We don’t want to live like this next year either. If you love and care for your family, friends, neighbors, and this country, we must all be vaccinated. Be a good American and take care of yourself.

Fred Wells, Dallas

Claims do not match actions

The uproar among GOP leaders and their supporters in Texas and elsewhere over the Biden government’s vaccination mandate is not surprising. I would expect nothing else from a party that sets no limits on its hypocrisy. The party that helped the Bush administration introduce travel restrictions and other freedoms to ward off terrorism now rejects any effort to protect us from a greater threat to our lives than terrorism.

With over 600,000 deaths from the pandemic and new deaths coming almost entirely from unvaccinated people, the GOP claims to support the right to life while resisting efforts to reduce deaths from the disease. They claim to be defenders of individual freedoms over masks and vaccines and have no problem restricting women’s privacy, control over their own bodies, and minority voting rights in urban counties.

They claim to be defenders of religious freedom and want to impose their theological view on us all of when life begins. GOP politicians in Texas have succeeded in addressing not our better angels but rather the worst human qualities: selfishness, ignorance and prejudice.

Cecil Larry Pool, Midlothian

Abbott find out

Will the real Governor Greg Abbott please stand up? In response to President Joe Biden’s new employer vaccination mandate, an Abbott spokesperson stated, “The federal government must stop trying to run private businesses.” As opposed to Abbott telling these companies they can’t ask for proof of vaccination?

In any case, shouldn’t Abbott focus his energies on his promise to eradicate rape entirely in Texas? That would at least be a worthwhile (if implausible) goal, unlike most of the other things he’s done this year.

Tom Desmond, Plano

What about the rabies vaccination?

I was just wondering. Do all people who reject the COVID-19 vaccine also refuse to vaccinate their pet against rabies? If you think the COVID-19 vaccine is wrong, do you also think the rabies vaccine is wrong for your beloved dog?

Lee Sanders, Mesquite

Rebels for no reason

COVID-19 has waged war on America, killed our people, overwhelmed and mutated our healthcare system to thwart our defenses. Oddly enough, far too many Americans are helping the enemy.

In a column in the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie posits that Republicans are rejecting the vaccine to prevent Joe Biden from tackling the pandemic and thereby sealing his fate as a year-old president.

I doubt that people would risk their lives and the lives of their family and friends for such a thing, if only they could choose, supported by a system that suppresses the voices of their opponents in many ways. But elections don’t get the adrenaline rush that comes from the spread of chaos and destruction.

These warriors are addicted to war. You don’t have an endgame. They equate defiance with victory. If their goal was to win elections, they would want more enemies than allies to die on the battlefield. A quick look at a New York Times map shows the opposite. US hotspots are mostly limited to the south and other reliably red states.

Unreasonable rebels are dangerous to everyone, including themselves.

Barbara Chiarello, Austin

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