Letters to the Editor: March 10, 2021

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Homework time

It’s vaccination time for those willing to take it. I for one, decided to do some homework first, by reviewing the adverse events reports in the VAERS system, which can be found at: https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.html

After running a report for COVID vaccine adverse events, I was presented with nearly thousands of reported adverse events for the months of January and February of this year. Reports included anaphylactic shock, raised itchy welts all over body, paralysis, extreme unrelenting fatigue, vomiting, bulls eye ring around injection shot, difficulty breathing, severe body pains, cardiac arrest, testing positive for COVID AFTER receiving the vaccine, and even death.

I highly encourage those considering the vaccine to first take a half hour to read through the adverse events on the VAERS site to make an informed decision.

Also, it is wise to keep in mind that in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Bruesewirtz v. Wyeth, 2011, the majority of judges ruled that vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe” and effectively removed all liability from the drug companies, even if there was evidence that a drug company could have made a vaccine safter.

Krisztina Samu

Kapaau

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Maybe not the glory days

Mr. Willis’s March 5 letter refers to the glory days of Trump. Trump’s un-fact-checked media sources made it all sound so wonderful. But that’s not a reality for the people in 10 states with Republican leadership.

Beside being led by Republicans, what do the following states have in common? Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Using charts from US News, I see that these 10 states all still pay a minimum wage of $7.25, they all rank in the bottom 20 states for quality of education, they all rank in the bottom 20 states for health care and bottom 23 states for families whose children are more likely to go hungry.

The other thing they have in common is their high percentage of Black population. According to what I found on the 2018 Census, Mississippi (39%), Louisiana (34%), Georgia (34%), South Carolina (28%), Alabama (28%),North Carolina (24%), Tennessee (18%), Texas (14%) and Oklahoma (9%). This accounts for the reason that white Republican politicians are trying to restrict voting and use gerrymandering to favorably re-district. Republicans are well-aware that if the voters who suffer the most were fully represented at the polls, these politicians might not be in office anymore.

Life has been good for wealthy white people in this country who have benefited from tax cuts and 401Ks that continue to grow. Trump and Republicans said their goal was to make America great again. For whom? Because the quality of life for the majority of working-class families in most states, especially Republican ones, hasn’t improved. Republican focus remains on shielding wealth and wielding power, not caring about people.

Martha Hodges

Kailua-Kona

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Letters policy

Letters to the editor should be 300 words or less and will be edited for style and grammar. Longer viewpoint guest columns may not exceed 800 words. Submit online at www.westhawaiitoday.com/?p=118321 or via email to letters@westhawaiitoday.com.