OPINION:
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s COVID-19 vaccination priorities are cruelly exposing our state’s most vulnerable citizens, those age 65 and over, to an early death. Look at the science, which Mr. Northam, a medical doctor, fails to follow. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that those age 65 and over are 8 to 10 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than any other age group. Yet the governor’s vaccination plan fails to adequately prioritize this most vulnerable age group.
You can see the proof in the Virginia Department of Health statistics for Feb. 7. Of the 1.52 million doses Virginia has received (and of 1.07 million doses administered) only 35% have been administered to those age 65 or older. Mr. Northam and the Virginia legislature are more interested in saving heinous criminals from the death penalty than saving our seniors from an early death.
Under the current Virginia vaccination plan, a 24-year-old teacher I know who works in the central office, not a classroom, has been vaccinated. Yet my 65-year-old and older neighbors spend hours vainly seeking immunization. In Fairfax County the teachers have been vaccinated, yet still refuse to return to the classroom to teach.
WILLIAM MCGILL II
Fairfax Station, Va.
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