Dear Editor:
Now that the public health vaccination target in Guelph has been achieved, it’s fair to ask what purpose vilifying those who are not yet vaccinated serves.
A letter in the Advertiser last week (The responsible thing, July 8) repeats the same shaming and virtue-signaling that is tearing our community to pieces. The writer claims to agree with everyone’s right to decide whether to take this particular vaccine, but then clearly implies that citizens who don’t are irresponsible, destructive and harming others. The writer cannot have it both ways because none of us have the freedom to harm others.
Many Ontarians who have legitimate questions about the emergency use of this vaccine have had all their vaccines and boosters for illnesses such as polio and tetanus.
These citizens are not vaccine hesitant. They, along with a number of scientists and physicians, have science-based questions, for which our researchers do not yet have answers. Attacking these people on moral grounds runs the risk of switching their thinking from “I don’t yet know” to “No.”
Each Ontarian has the right to do their own calculation of risk. That risk calculation is decidedly different for our citizens over 80 – who tragically have accounted for some 67% of all COVID deaths – than it is for Ontarians under 20 who accounted for 0.05%.
This is a clear policy signal, not only in terms of vaccination programs, but also in terms of how we take care of our elders, because we have had deadly viral outbreaks in long-term care long before COVID.
Terence Rothwell,
Wellington North
*Editor’s note: An overwhelming majority of medical experts agree that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Recent studies suggest that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine not only significantly reduces the risk of developing the illness, it also significantly reduces transmission. Anyone with concerns about COVID-19 vaccines should consult their doctor.