Letters to the Editor: Tell vaccine holdouts they are choosing death and illness

To the editor: There’s plenty of good news about the vaccine rollout resulting in declining deaths and hospitalizations, but it is a two-edged sword. Now, those who are opposed to or still on the fence about COVID-19 vaccination have an excuse to continue to avoid getting their shots. (“California has given 30 million COVID-19 vaccinations, but demand may be dropping,” April 30)

Instead of reporting mostly the good news about vaccines, the media should prominently report how many of those who are still dying or becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

Those who have been vaccinated become more resistant to infection, stay out of the hospital and do not face the dire prospect of death or serious illness caused by the virus. Repeat and report this over and over again, and perhaps those who have not yet been vaccinated will get the message.

Marshall Barth, Encino

..

To the editor: The elaborate scenarios being presented as explanations of the drop-off in demand for vaccination show a quaint belief that everyday citizens pay close day-to-day attention to medical news.

In truth, the reason for this drop-off is that all of the people who were gung-ho about it, and all of those who had some special need for getting the vaccine sooner rather than later, hurried to get their shots. Now, what remains are those with less motivation.

These people are put off by the mechanics of having to sign up, by the necessity of committing to some particular time for the appointment, by not knowing exactly what will happen at the appointment nor how long it will take beginning to end, and by the multitude of other little excuses people can easily come up with because they just don’t want to be inconvenienced.

When people know exactly how much time is involved, know what precisely is going to happen, don’t face hurdles in the sign-up process and can just stroll into some very convenient location to get their shots, that’s when the vaccination effort will achieve greater success.

Brent Dickerson, Los Alamitos

..

To the editor: Given the nightmare that is happening in India, how can the administration say it is “actively looking at what the options are for increasing production” of vaccines? (“Vaccine companies and the U.S. government snubbed WHO initiative to scale up global manufacturing,” April 30)

There is only one option: Send all of our excess doses to India as soon as possible, revoke patents and order drug companies to share their production processes and vaccine ingredients with all countries that have the structural foundation to produce the vaccines.

India definitely has this capability. Every other option is immoral and inhumane.

Vicki Rupasinghe, Ojai