Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com
Do better BDN
I am writing about a letter published on Aug. 12 and written by Donna Dodge. I am incensed at Dodge’s remarks and angry that the BDN published such misleading information. Dodge has a “family member” who is upset because she has to have a COVID immunization to attend college. (To be a doctor, if you can imagine!) She had to show proof of immunization to be accepted and the school gets to decide how to best protect the students.
Dodge says the vaccine “is all risk and no benefit.” Really? Per the CDC, over 150 million doses have been administered and 96 percent of doctors have been vaccinated. Dangerous, right? She implies that there is little risk of illness for people under 20. The BDN report on page A4, on Aug. 12 says that most cases now are being diagnosed in people under age 20.
Messenger RNA vaccines have been in development for years in preparation for just such a pandemic and one has now been fully approved. Her family member should choose a different career and a different school. I think she would be a very poor doctor if she continues to ignore the research.
Again, shame on the BDN for publishing such drivel. Do better!
Constance Poulin
Glenburn
Forced to make the right choice
Recently there have been protests about the recent vaccination mandates for health care workers and the use of masks. I do support the premise that we should have freedom of choice. The issue is that too many are making bad choices based on false information. It is too bad that people have to be forced by law to make the right choice.
I noticed that one of the protesters in Aroostook County was wearing a “Make America Great” shirt. Two issues I have with that. First, this should not be a political issue, but common sense. Second, had people gotten vaccines and followed CDC guidelines we might be moving forward to make America great again. Instead we are moving backwards to another 2020 with continued shut downs and unwanted mandates.
Vaccines or immunizations such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox have been mandated for public schools for years. I have to wonder where we would be today if the same protests had happened prior to those mandates.
I believe that people should have the choice of not getting the vaccine. At the same time, I also think hospitals should be able to choose not to admit those same patients when they show up with a positive COVID-19 test and symptoms. That could keep beds open for those patients waiting for necessary surgeries and have other emergencies.
Jim Flavin
New Sweden
Nordic is not proposing a ‘farm’
Please, please stop referring to the Nordic Aquafarms proposal for a facility on the Little River as a “farm.” It is unlike any farm in Maine. Their proposal is for a land-based confined feeding operation to produce higher grade proteins from lower grade feedstocks. In any dictionary of industrial processes, this establishment would be called a factory.
Indeed a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation is how North Carolina and Iowa hog factories are described. Huge poultry operations on the Eastern Shore in Maryland are also CAFOs. The Baltimore Sun does not call them “farms.”
Nordic has proposed an industrial facility, clearly a CAFO. Using their term “farm” or “fish farm” is incorrect and inaccurate reporting. It could be considered reporting biased towards the corporate press releases, which are not based in reality when they use the term “farm.” Please change the BDN stylebook to accurately describe massive industrial salmon operations as CAFOs or “fish factories.” They are not “farms.”
Alan Cohen
Winterport