LETTERS | April 2021

Moderna, Moderna,

To Be or Not to Be . . .Vaccinated 

There is a lot of information and disinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations.  Here are the facts you need to know. 

1. Safety – All the vaccines approved by the FDA are safe and effective.  It doesn’t matter if you receive the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson &Johnson or another FDA-approved vaccine.  They can all save your life and keep you out of the hospital.  It is important to follow the protocol for the vaccine you receive.  Getting one dose when you should get two may mean your immunity does not last for long. 

2. Cost – The vaccine is free for everyone who wants it.  The federal government is covering the costs under the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act.  If you have Medicare or Medicaid, your vaccine will be paid for by CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid); if you have commercial insurance, you will not have any out-of-pocket costs; if you don’t have insurance, your vaccine is still covered and the providers get reimbursed through the Provider Relief Fund, a pool of money the government distributed to support healthcare workers and hospitals.

3. Where – The Public Health Department and some of the national pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS, Kroger/Safeway) are offering vaccinations.  In Ventura County, the easiest way to get an appointment for your first dose is through https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/portal.  Schedule your  second dose is through https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/portal/registration-d2/

Meanwhile, until the pandemic is controlled, wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands often, and continue to follow the CDC Guidelines. 

Patricia Butler
Ventura

 

Your current VCReporter story on Ormond Beach (“Worth Saving: Ormond Beach receives $1M for desperately needed restoration,” Chuck Graham, April 1, 2021) is welcomed and timely.

 

However, it needs to celebrate the work of two long time and early environmentalists, Roma Armbrust and Jean Harris. They worked all their activist lives to save that beach and in 2000 won national honors from The National Wetlands organization for doing so.  We have to remember our pioneers and elders in the environmental community and the work they started so we could build on it. We need to keep our local environmental memory deep, sharp and focused on past and present.

 

Please read this national tribute to them and recall them in the next issue.Without Roma and Jean, Ormond Beach could have been washed away in the swirl of development: http://elinwa.org/awards/recipients/roma-armbrust-and-jean-harris

 

Also see the attached tribute I wrote for them some years ago for the environmental community on my website: environmentalventura.com

Bob Chianese
Ojai     

Although we have been given fantastic news recently in Ventura County, that our county is doing better than most and the spread of COVID-19 is decreasing, and that 44% of our county’s population is on its way to being vaccinated by April’s end, we shouldn’t think that this news entitles us to relax from this pandemic.   

 

The majority of public health physicians and epidemiologists are in agreement that it is fair to warn us against thinking of the vaccine as a cure-all. The CDC and NHS, on CNN and MSNBC, have warned us that there have been at least two new variants from the East Coast that are far more contagious, have spiked cases and are more deadly, hospitalizing those in the 40-49 year-old age range who had no preconditions. Children are spreading one new variant the same as adults.

 

We should also keep in mind that it has also been confirmed that if we contract COVID-19, we may also have “long-haul” effects as the disease could affect different parts of the body years later.  These complications include and are not limited to such illnesses as heart disease, clotting, stroke and pulmonary disease as well as fatigue that is similar to a symptom found in Lyme’s disease.

 

My concern is that we will again bite at the bit, and open too soon, before we know the data and its authentication as to how protected we really are. As we do know, Gov. Newsome is under tremendous pressure to open up the state at all times. And as we perceive this false sense of security in vaccination, and as we move to red and gold tiers, lowering cases, hospitalizations and transmission, my concern is that we will be blindsided once again by these new variants when we are feeling most carefree. 

 

I do not want to be the barer of bad tidings, like “Dr. Doom,” but it is safe to say, buckle up people. Buckle up. Better still, continue masking, sheltering and distancing. Be hygienic. Protect yourselves. And by hook or crook, get vaccinated.

— Grant Marcus (Retired RN)
Ventura