Fred Huffman

This op-ed is in response to a recent letter to the editor written by Robert Blotter who believes at this stage in the pandemic the policy makers have done what they could to control the virus and we should now leave it up to each individual to decide what’s best for them.

Like Mr. Blotter I, too, am fully vaccinated and like Mr. Blotter I’m also a strong advocate of individual rights and not at all fond of unnecessary rules and regulations.

I’m also am a very independent person who cherishes the right to choose and do things in life that I want to do, providing they are within reason and don’t infringe on other people rights.

That being said I’m not convinced that now is the time for our elected officials, public health officers, university presidents, doctors, educators, school boards and parents vested with the responsibility to protect us and our children to relinquish that responsibility and leave it up to each individual to decide what’s best for them and let the chips fall where they may.

I also feel strongly that getting vaccinated is the smart thing to do and would certainly encourage all of you if you haven’t already to consider doing so, not only for your own well- being but for the well-being of others in the community, particularly the most vulnerable.

For those of you that are fully vaccinated and considering a large family gathering over the holidays or perhaps a trip to Mexico for a little sun and fun, I would suggest taking a close look at the National Hockey League where all active players (except for one) are fully vaccinated but just before Christmas had well over 100 players in protocol.

I would also ask all of you planning group gatherings, making travel plans, attending sporting events, ribbon cutting ceremonies, etc., to consider the recent outbreak at Cornell University where almost all of the campus community was fully vaccinated but had a huge outbreak with over 1,200 students testing positive over a 10 day period just before the semester ended.

For those of you with children trying to make the difficult decision to vaccinate your children, I would certainly encourage you to keep in mind that nationwide children in the 5 through 11 age group as of two weeks ago accounted for 10.6 % of the total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and over 1.9 million children in that age group had been infected

I would also ask you to keep in mind that over 8,300 children in that age group had been hospitalized and about one-third of those hospitalized required treatment in intensive care and there had been at least 94 COVID-19 associated deaths in that age group and over 5,200 of the children that had been hospitalized developed multisystem inflammatory disorders.

For those of you that have previously been infected and now feel you are immune and don’t need to be vaccinated, I would suggest you take a look at what recently happened to the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Sean Payton who tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020 and just tested positive again despite being fully vaccinated.

In closing, I want to encourage all of our elected officials, public health officers, university presidents, doctors, educators, school board members and parents vested with the responsibility to protect us to continue to exercise their authority and take the necessary measures to keep us and our children safe.

I also want to encourage all of you to assume some individual responsibility and get vaccinated and to take this opportunity to thank my old friend Steve Nelson from up the road for taking the time to write his excellent letter to the editor encouraging all of us to do so.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Editor’s note: Fred Huffman is a resident of the Marquette area.