Letter: Every individual has a choice

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the Shaw Media Editorial Board’s “Our View” regarding the overflowing hospitals and “selfishness” of the unvaccinated. Full disclosure: I have had three Pfizer shots and a flu shot in the last nine months. In the past, I also chose to get the pneumonia shots, shingles shots, tetanus shots and hepatitis shots. I have also been vaccinated for polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, and rubella.

Every individual has a choice. In your words, “Let’s be blunt:” There are many reasons why people get sick. “Selfishness” is not one of them. Ignorance is not one of them. “Self-centeredness” is not one of them. “Getting vaccinated for the greater good” is not a good reason to get a shot. Yes, the COVID-19 shots are not vaccines. Individuals have to choose what is best for their bodies. Many people who have chosen not to get the shots have already had COVID-19. Their bodies have natural immunity to the virus. Some are very concerned about having inflammation around the heart or lungs.

Blaming the “selfish unvaccinated” is not a solution to the overcrowding in our hospitals and serves no purpose for the “greater good.” The only purpose your opinion has served is another attempt to divide the citizens of our state and country. In closing, I have to question the integrity of the Shaw Media Editorial Board for publishing such a divisive, narrow-minded opinion.

Carole Clark

Montgomery