Not so grateful for COVID-19 vaccine

While I respect Mr. Raffel’s opinion regarding COVID-19 (Daily Herald, Dec. 13) , I would like to remind him that after the vaccine was released to the public, pharmaceutical companies and the government were touting a 93% efficacy if you get vaccinated. After months and into years thereafter, that efficacy percentage went down substantially after people who were vaccinated continued to come down with COVID-19.

The narrative then turned to the vaccine will keep symptoms mild, opposed to not getting COVID-19. This was a change that seems to be lost on most people. While I agree that a majority of the deaths occur in the older population (which I fall into), I would challenge that the deaths are solely from COVID-19. I would go further to say that most of those deaths were due primarily to some underlying health condition.

I believe deaths from COVID-19 alone are very rare. I came down with COVID-19 in November 2020, prior to the release of any vaccine. Like Mr. Raffel, my case was nothing more than a mild cold, without any vaccine. While Mr. Raffel may believe his symptoms were mild because of the vaccine, I am not so sure.

I do not consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I would like to see more statistical evidence that the vaccine is as safe and effective as Mr. Raffel believes.

Bill Robin

Hawthorn Wood