Dear Editor,
I need to respond to Noah Liguori’s letter [Henry, media spark over-reaction, April 23, The News], in which he asserts that the media are being scripted and sparking over-reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He finds it “oppressive” to have articles that he feels are slanted and to have public opinion twisted to filter public dialogue.
I’m not an infectious disease expert, so I’m not going to challenge the people who are.
Public opinion about this disease is varied and interesting, but not necessarily well-informed, which is why we don’t do public health by public opinion.
Mr. Liguori wants to respond to a novel coronavirus (literally new and unknown) by letting herd immunity do its thing, citing a doctor in the U.K. who suggested it. That doctor later admitted, “60 per cent of the population would need to contract the virus” and “we face the prospect of an increasing number of people dying.”
Officials reversed course on this tact.
RECENT LETTER: Voters will remember MP’s tweet come election time
Many health experts say plans to use children as an experimental frontline for the build-up of immunity brings up ethical questions.
“Letting children be exposed in schools to COVID-19 is a far cry from a mandatory vaccination program. It’s not just a matter of building immunity – they have to get sick first” and this is actually a “sickness strategy.”
The second problem is that not enough is known about the strength and duration of immunity, as we do with, for example, chicken pox.
I’m not willing to let innocent children or anyone else die due to untested public opinion.
Loraine Anchor, Maple Ridge
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