I remember as a young nurse in the U.S. Army heading to Vietnam, standing in line with hundreds of young soldiers heading to fight a war, and getting multiple vaccines. The vaccines, we were told, were to protect us, and the people and children of Vietnam, who did not have the privilege of the protection we were all getting.
That is why I am so sad that some police and EMTs and pilots in this country, as well as fellow nurses, are so reluctant to do what all of us who served this country in wartime have done to protect others.
This is not a political issue – clearly vaccines are a gift to us and the rest of the world that yearns to have the privilege that we have to be safe and to keep our communities healthy.
Peggy Akers
Nurse-practitioner
Portland
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