After reading several of Paul Schratz’s columns complaining about Dr. Bonnie Henry I must express my views.
Dr. Henry is trying to keep the people of B.C. safe and healthy. Paul Schratz and the archdiocese seem to be looking for loopholes to avoid following the rules. Emotion, rather than science, appears to be what they are preaching.
I find it very frustrating that our Church should be so small-minded that it would push to fill the churches with people – even reduced numbers. With the emergence of the variants that are now felling so many, with hospitals being filled to capacity, and with doctors and nurses becoming exhausted, the Church should be urging its followers to stay home and listen to those with greater knowledge. If not, many more will fall ill and possibly die.
These times are not easy for anyone. Those of us who are older are waiting for the pandemic to pass so we can visit with our loved ones again, socialize once more, and return to the sacraments without worrying if we are going to come into contact with the virus.
We love our faith and miss the sense of community and most especially receiving our Lord in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We also appreciate all that Dr. Henry, Health Minister Adrian Dix, and Premier John Horgan are doing to try to rid the province of the virus. Please try to support their effort, not tear them down.
Diane B. Poirier
Vancouver
Re two letters in the April 12 issue questioning COVID vaccinations:
The Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines would not have been accepted for use in Canada unless Canadian health authorities had approved them. We take a lot of direction from American sources, but drug policy remains under Canadian jurisdiction.
The latest statistics, especially concerning variants of the virus, involve greater numbers of young people, and much of that is a result of lifestyle choices. So there definitely is a need to vaccinate them.
One of the writers suggests the use of ivermectin, but one doesn’t need to delve too deeply into drug manuals to discover that it is a medication used to treat tropical diseases and is considered by many ineffective on viruses.
While the drug’s anti-inflammatory properties are supposedly evident in COVID cases, when weighed against the definitive benefits of vaccination, the latter far outweighs the former.
As for the “abortion connection,” Church authorities have declared it to be so far removed from vaccine production as to not be a concern.
It was truly good to finally read a positive letter that didn’t dwell on how dismal Easter was without access to Mass in church and instead focussed on the uplifting effects of virtual Mass and on what each of us can do FOR someone else.
Penny Oyama
Burnaby
Can you please report on the recent document from Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, which shows there are safer and cheaper ways of healing from COVID than experimental injections.
Kathleen Higgins
Delta
(The document from the Kenya Catholic doctors is available here – Editor.)
