Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com

Vaccine information

On Dec. 30, Claudette Michaud wrote in a letter to the BDN that she had received the Pfizer vaccine despite some misgivings about the use of aborted fetal cells in some vaccines, and said that to her knowledge Pfizer has used such cells in its research. Some fetal cells were used in the early stages of the development of mRNA technology, but fetal cells are not used in the production of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. In fact, several pro-life groups, including the Charlotte Loizer Institute and the Catholic Health Association of the United States have found these COVID-19 vaccines to be “ethically uncontroversial.”

There are some vaccines for other diseases that rely upon fetal cell lines, which were created in the late 1960s and 1970s. Use of existing cell lines does not require collection of new tissue from current abortions. An informative fact sheet can be found on the North Dakota Department of Health website.

Shelia Zahm

Hermon

Loyal Americans

You know what I wish today? I wish the Bangor Daily were a national newspaper and that every American happened to read it on Dec. 31. I wish that they happened to come upon the editorial featuring our own beloved Joshua Chamberlain.

I wish they were confronted with what it is to be a loyal American, what it means to love one’s country, what it means to love one’s fellow human beings. I wish.

Barbara Conroy

Portland

Recognize the damage done

I don’t pretend to be an attorney and never have. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist nor a Supreme Court Justice to see the damage done to Americans and our earth by the spread of COVID-19 to our country. It is time for some young law students who want a jump in their career to step up and file a class-action suit against the Chinese government. It would of course be more appropriate for our government to do this themselves but that is not going to happen unless the scales of injustice are removed from them who listen to lies and censorship instead of the truth.

I still have faith in our government, as I do our law forces across America. A few bad apples can destroy much but, We The People, do not back down from sharing our true feelings. Remove the bad apples and let’s get on as a united country not a divided country.

Stop sending America’s money to other countries and not needed issues in our own country at this time and give it to the people who have suffered so much loss over this pandemic. Words alone can’t describe the pain many have suffered this past year.

On a good note, I believe 2021 will be a better year and we all will see the importance of being one not divided. My heart hears your pain. Happy New Year to We The People.

Eugene Allen

Holden