LETTER: Covid vaccination is an act of compassion for fellow humans

To Ozaukee Press:

Once again a reader wrote in to the Press with the same incessant ramblings about socialism and totalitarianism in reference to Covid-19 vaccination.

It is a vaccination that may well save that reader’s life and the lives of others, including his family, friends or even complete strangers that come in close proximity.         

We vaccinate our children for their own protection from countless afflictions. We even vaccinate our pets. With yet another dangerous variant of Covid on the horizon, isn’t it time to show some compassion toward our fellow human beings, quit complaining and just go and get the shot?

So many on the political right claim to be pro-life. The Americans who have gotten the Covid vaccination have demonstrated their own compassion towards others and their own pro-life leanings.

Let’s all work together to end this pandemic.                    

James Korthals        
Cedarburg

Editor’s note: The letter above is a response to a letter to the editor published in last week’s Ozaukee Press that characterized efforts to encourage vaccination as being part of a “totalitarian Democrat/socialist agenda to see how far the public under their control can be manipulated.” In the same issue, another reader wrote that “you can still get Covid-19 with the vaccine,” and asked, “So what’s the point of being vaccinated?” The answer is easily found, not in the opinions or arguments of government and health officials, but in real-life data that show that more than 95% of Covid-related deaths are of people who are not fully vaccinated. The data further show that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid than those who are vaccinated, and five times more likely to be infected. The point is that vaccination significantly reduces the suffering and death caused by Covid-19, relieves overworked doctors and nurses of the stress of caring for the desperately sick Covid sufferers who fill ICUs and is effective at containing the spread of the disease. Wisconsin is one the nation’s Covid hotspots. In Brown County, where only one-third of residents have been vaccinated, hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid patients. In Dane County, which is one of the most highly vaccinated counties in the country at 90%, Covid deaths, hospitalizations and infections are a small fraction of the state and national average.