Letter: Keeping the 'public' in 'public health'

Two letters to the editor calling for an end to free COVID booster shots are two letters too many. "You want the booster, you pay for it!" Just what don't Bill Palarz and John Fink understand about public health?

If the word public is used, it means government funded, like public schools, public libraries, public highways. Publicly funded means paid for with the revenue sent to the government in the form of taxes paid by taxpayers.

Taxpaying citizens have an obligation to make sure their taxes are being used effectively and efficiently by their government. Personally, I'd rather see my taxes go to paying for vaccinations and boosters against a deadly virus, aka public health, than to see my taxes used to pay for another tank. But that's just me.

Bottom line, though, the booster shots are not free. We've already paid for them.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton