Letters to the Editor: For the love of God, stop showing photos of vaccine needles

To the editor: Why, oh why, does it seem that nearly every piece written about the urgency of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 features a picture of someone getting “jabbed”? Particularly now when we want children, who fear needles the most, to get protected, why were there two such pictures in the Nov. 9 paper?

One was in the first section showing a child clearly scared as the needle approaches his arm; the other on the front page of the California section showed someone holding onto the hand of her brother as she was being vaccinated. Even “grown-up” people like me, an 81-year-old grandma, still cringe at the word “shot.”

So how about showing a picture of the lollipop or tattoo sticker “prize” after the needle has been withdrawn? While those bribes didn’t quite fool my sons, at least they knew they had something to look forward to when it was over.

It might work for reluctant adults too.

Pat Holmes, San Pedro

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To the editor: I’ve always questioned the intelligence of the “patriots” who deny science, refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine and protest about their rights.

Well, I recently got my answer looking at a photo in the Nov. 9 Times showing a protester holding a sign stating that mandates without exemptions are a violation of our “14th Contitutional Amendment.”

I wrote that correctly. If this person cannot spell “Constitution,” the fundamental legal document for our great nation, how can he have any understanding of the rights provided in it?

Kathi Weiner, Dana Point