Letters to the editor for Jan. 28

Start with listening to those afraid of COVID-19 vaccine

There was something missing from Jacob Appel’s piece on Jan. 21 on what we owe the unvaccinated. Between the lines, he identifies the reasons for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to include personal liberty, willful refusal and lack of trust.

I am a clinical social worker and my patients who tell me they are refusing to get vaccinated have made the decision because they are afraid — afraid of side effects, afraid of what is unknown about the vaccine. Like Mr. Appel, I was fortunate to be vaccinated already, and I think we need to listen to people, hear their fears, and respond to their questions and concerns before we start making ethical pronouncements. Fear subsides when the fearless lead.

Richard Brandt-Kreutz, Olympia

The odyssey of getting a COVID-19 vaccine

Dear Gov. Inslee and the people of Thurston County:

If you’re not in phase 1A for vaccination, you must work to get the vaccine. Washington Phase 1B — in which everyone 65 and older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine — is a free for all. In the military, we would have called it a SNAFU. (BTW, the military isn’t moving any faster.)

It would seem that Washington state would have a database for everyone over 65 somewhere, like driver’s licenses.

Needing to sign up online also has handicapped anyone who doesn’t have email access.

I received my first COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 22. First, I went onto the Washington state COVID-19 site and registered. Then, The Olympian sends me digital articles everyday that I don’t read usually but this article listed COVID-19 vaccine sites. (Thank you, Gov. Inslee, for ordering the counties to use up the vaccine.) The article had a link to Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. (Thank you, TCPHSS.) I registered and later sent an email to a site attached to Providence St. Peter Hospital with appointment times. I picked one for Friday. By late Wednesday night, all the 2,000+ appointments were taken. Providence did a great job in giving the vaccine.

Kaiser Permanente is giving vaccines but only to KP members. As a KP member, my husband spent 90 minutes at night setting up an appointment, and drove to Renton on Jan. 23 to get his shot, and he has an appointment for the second one. I do not!

Be proactive if you want a COVID-19 vaccine shot.

June Shaffer, Olympia

Time to act on guns is now

NRA-compliant lawmakers, state and federal:

Writing for students, educators, parents and communities, I remind you that Congress was recently forced to cower under desks, behind barricades. I hope you now have empathy for what our schools go through every year. They worry about active shooters, lockdowns, and when the next conspiracy nut will wreak havoc using an assault weapon and mega-clip of bullets. Are the messages of Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, etc. clear to you now?

Stand up, tell the NRA to pack it in, decline their money, and pass common-sense gun/ammo legislation. Do state, county or federal courts allow guns inside? No, for obvious reasons. Guns should be banned everywhere on entire government campuses, and in schools in all states, for those same self-evident reasons.

I led many tours in Olympia. My touring school kids and parents freaked at open-carry events, asking why laws allow open firearms in the Legislature and Governor’s Office. It was heart wrenching! Consider how legislators in Washington and Michigan feel with guns in the galleries looming over them as they deliberate.

Surely the mob mentality shown this week makes clear that no one needs, nor should have, guns to protest or make their point. It’s only to intimidate. I own guns, but second amendment rights stop, as does free expression, when used to incite, intimidate, or harm others.

We have common sense driver laws to protect us all, so why not for guns? Show that you get that now. Legislate!

Gery Gerst, Olympia