The vaccine mandate reminds me of the story about an old farmer who had to leave for a couple of days and hired a young fella to look after the stock. After giving a lengthy list of “do’s” he said “Whatever you do, don’t put beans in the donkey’s ears.” Well, I bet you can guess the rest - he put beans in the donkey’s ears.

If the government had focused solely on treating COVID and said, “by the way, there is now a vaccine available,” then one would have believed they actually cared one way or the other if we lived or died, and we’d be over this pandemic.

Any first-year medical student knows when you contract a virus, an immediate response is essential. We had hydroxychloroquine, which poorer countries used successfully. Now we have monoclonal antibody treatments. This is all about drug companies controlling the money. And please stop calling it a vaccine! It is a flu shot. When was the last time you had a booster for polio?

Jerry Funk

Jim Thorpe