Letters: a COVID conversation from the trenches of disagreement

It doesn’t take long these days to find controversy, including COVID, the vaccine, religious freedom, personal liberty, masks, treatments, adverse effects, data reliability, media, and government communication vs manipulation, just to start off a list.

I find myself in the very unusual position of having strongly different views than people I know well and dearly love. Antipathy rages on social media and elsewhere, and families and friends are divided.

Recently I made my one and only social media post with respect to COVID. As a surgeon on call I had been in the ER when the second of two young unvaccinated individuals were admitted that day in extremis, requiring intubation and ventilation for respiratory distress from COVID.

I was in the next room setting an injured child’s broken elbow. I was enraged and upset seeing the fragile human resources spent on an individual who was putting all of us present at risk, whose odds of being there would have been substantially reduced had they been vaccinated. I felt the anxiety and frustration of a health-care system in crisis, as well as the compound effects of months of my surgeries cancelled over the last year, with crippled patients waiting in pain. 

So, I made a Facebook post encouraging vaccination from my perspective within the health-care system.

A friend whom I cherish contacted me, expressing deep concerns with vaccine passports, coercion and the infringement of personal liberty, vaccination itself and its potential adverse effects, government over-reach, media manipulation, restriction on religious freedom we have experienced over the last year and a half, the possible slippery slope of loss of personal and religious freedom, and the possibility that valid treatments for COVID are being suppressed or missed with the focus on vaccination. Many people share these concerns.

We had a long walk and talk and I perhaps ranted a bit more than I should have, but my friend is a respectful and reasonable gentleman who listened well, and we were each able to share our experiences and concerns. We discussed how we both earnestly seek the truth, how we wish to make decisions from love and humility rather than pride and anger, and ended with a prayer asking for guidance and discernment. We man-hugged, expressed our respect and love for each other, and went our ways.

I don’t know if either of us will make any drastic changes, but I do know we have a much better understanding of each other’s positions, experiences, and thoughts.

So, I would like to make a plea to all those who feel they are separating further from friends and family over the gulf of COVID issues. Take some time to engage directly, have a walk and a talk, pray for direction and discernment together, and do it in a spirit of love and respect.

Acrimonious division will only fail us all, and right now we need to be strong together to remain as light in this world of much darkness.

Dr. Tim Kostamo
West Vancouver

Re Paul Schratz’ Aug. 30 column “Conscience versus vaccination passports”:

I believe in freedom of conscience and individual freedoms. They are fundamental to a healthy, liberated society. But they must be tempered by common safety and the common good. 

In the face of COVID-19, a communicable disease proven fatal and resilient, precautions must be taken to save lives, including the lives of our loved ones and our neighbors. The tools we have are distancing, masks, and vaccines. Our governments, including the B.C. government, have a responsibility to ensure our common safety and therefore have the right to order us to vaccinate in public settings, restrict our numbers in crowded settings, and impose other non-draconian measures.

People adamant about their unbridled freedoms are filling our hospitals right now.

No one likes having their freedoms curtailed, but in some situations it may be necessary, and COVID-19 is one of those. The deadly epidemic will ease and then we can have our freedoms restored.

Martin Vance
Osoyoos

The odds of dying from COVID-19 are so low for most people that there is no justification for mandatory vaccination in most workplaces.

So why are many vaccinated people unwilling to speak out for the rights of the unvaccinated? Will they at least vote for federal candidates who support unvaccinated individuals’ right to choose?

There is no good reason why most unvaccinated individuals should be forced to choose between their job and the jab.

Mary-Ellen Robinson
Edmonton

The New York Teachers Union has been fighting against vaccine mandates and they have won in some respects. One area in which they have not won is religious exemption if the leader of the relevant religious community has said vaccines are acceptable: “Religious exemptions must also be approved, but not if the leader of the religious group has spoken publicly in favour of the vaccine, and not if the request is deemed ‘personal, political, or philosophical in nature.’”

This is unfortunate because all currently available vaccines use aborted organ tissue in some part of their process, and this should not be forced on those willing and wanting to stand against this. 

Joan Davies
Coquitlam

I completely agree with Alan Yoshioka (“Conscience rights don’t stand alone,” B.C. Catholic, Sept. 6) that we ought not to cherry-pick our COVID sources. YouTube is already doing that for us.

I was watching epidemiologist Dr. Peter McCullough being interviewed when suddenly the screen went black and a notice from YouTube appeared which read, “this video violates our community standards.” That saved me from having a think.

But the Lord moves in mysterious ways. Bill Gates, who once followed in the footsteps of his father [Bill Gates, Sr. served on the board of Planned Parenthood – Editor] in decrying the world’s overpopulation, now wants to save everyone with vaccines. 

Life is good.

Alexander Wolfe-Murray
Burnaby