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Letter to the Editor

To the residents of South East Idaho,

I grew up in Soda Springs, my father and his brother were doctors there.  It was an ideal place to grow up and I still care for the residents of that town. My life’s works is in health care technology and it’s science.   I recently read an article regarding the Southeastern District Health Board’s decision to bar Covid vaccines from being distributed in its clinics and am very disturbed by its action.  

This is a decision based on faulty knowledge of the value of that vaccine.  The board is discounting factual data regarding the vaccine’s benefits versus its risks.   This issue is all about statistics (which are abstract concepts) and the greater good, and the Public Health board in Southeastern Idaho doesn’t seem to understand either one.

Their refusal to allow the Public Health offices in SE Idaho to offer Covid shots will mean significantly more severe cases of Covid and more deaths from that disease.

It is true that there is a small risk involved in getting any vaccine, but the benefits of vaccination far outweigh that risk. This has been proven over and over again with all of the approved vaccines through massive studies done by many different entities. In particular with the Covid vaccines the evidence is overwhelming that the benefits outweigh the risks. For a significant period of time some 97% of the people in ICUs  nationwide with severe cases of Covid were people who were not vaccinated.   Although the vaccines (and any vaccine is the same) don’t totally protect a person from getting Covid, their symptoms and risks of serious complications were reduced immensely.

This Public Health Board should be ashamed of themselves in allowing misinformation to trump factual data in the areas of their responsibility.

Allen Tigert

Bellevue, ID


Letter to the Editor Policy

Part of the mission of a community paper is to bring the voices of the community into the public forum.  We have been fortunate to receive the contributions of a number of different groups within the community to that end, and we thank all contributors for their efforts. Another part of that representation is Letters to the Editor, which allow readers to voice their opinions on whatever topics are important to them.  All Letters to the Editor will be considered for publication, with the following provisos: Try to limit the word count to 500 or fewer.  Any letters which are vulgar, defamatory, or devoid of probative content will not be published.  Letters may be edited for space, but writers will be contacted beforehand.  Let’s hear what you have to say!  Send LTEs to [email protected] 

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