To the Editor:
To: All those who are not planning on getting vaccinated.
I know your argument.
“This is just another government restriction on your freedoms. The science is all over the place regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness. We don’t even have an accurate count of deaths from Covid versus deaths involving Covid.”
Yada, yada, yada.
How about we look at it in another way.
Fact 1. The longer the virus is with us the more people will die.
Fact 2. The longer the virus is active, the more variants (mutations) will be created.
Fact 3. The only way we stop this virus is by achieving a herd immunity (vaccinating somewhere around 85% of the population).
Our biggest fear should be that if we don’t work together as a nation to stop this virus as quickly as possible, it will inevitably produce a variant that is impervious to our present vaccines and we will be forced to create another “Warp Speed” project and start all over again.
So, to fulfill its purpose (the protection of its citizens), our government has a plan to vaccinate the remaining population over the next couple months to achieve herd immunity.
The plan is advancing. Vaccines are now available at all the vaccination sites. The number of sites is being expanding daily. Special efforts are being made to get to the remote areas. This plan is viable, and we could have herd immunity in a few months.
The only thing that stands in the way is you!
So, before you get too entrenched in your position of nonparticipation, I suggest you watch the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie, Saving Private Ryan. The movie shows in vivid realism the horrific price paid by those who fought to take Omaha Beach that day in Normandy, France.
Although that was a different kind of war than the one we are fighting now, there was a plan in that one too. It was to amass troops and equipment in England until we had enough to launch and sustain an invasion of Nazi occupied France.
Our fathers, and grandfathers were the ones required to carry out that plan. Thousands were killed and wounded on those beaches, but they did it because it was their part of the plan to play. They came together and did their part.
Think about it, what if no one had shown up on D-Day!
Has America lost its ability to sacrifice for the common good? Are we no longer a country, but a collection of self-indulgent individuals with no interest in the bigger picture? Has being “independent” become the new “patriotism”?
What would those ancestors who bought your safety with their lives, think of you, if you fail to show up in your time of trial?
So unless you have medical reasons, get a shot!
It’s time to serve your country! Time to do your part!
Michael “Mac” McLean
Village of Pennecamp
