To the editor:

Last week's Phoenix contained a letter to the editor from an individual lampooning and criticizing those who advocated for and received the COVID-19 vaccination. This individual completely ignored sound medical science, and instead attempted to downplay the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and insulted those who did the responsible and intelligent thing and were vaccinated.

As someone who previously worked in the medical field and did my due diligence by extensively researching the vaccine and speaking at length about it with my physician, I am totally confident I did the right thing in being fully vaccinated and boosted, not only for my own health, but also the health of my family, friends, and even strangers such as last week's letter writer, who is so anti-vaccination.

The COVID-19 virus is one of the most debilitating and deadly viruses the world has ever seen, and apparently last week's letter writer who is so vehemently opposed to the vaccine was isolated on a deserted island when COVID-19 was at its worst, and hospitals had to bring in refrigerated trucks to store all of the dead bodies while funeral homes had to turn away customers due to being overwhelmed by the number of people who died from COVID-19.

And while some people have attempted to base their objection to the vaccine on medical reasons, it is obvious that in many cases, the refusal to be vaccinated is based much more on political views than on medical science, and that puts not only the health of the unvaccinated at risk, but also the health of anyone the unvaccinated individual comes into contact with.

We are very fortunate in this country to have vaccines that virtually wiped out terrible diseases such as polio, smallpox, and whooping cough, and the COVID-19 vaccine is just another tool in our arsenal to keep our population healthy, and more importantly, to save lives.

Mike Proto
245 Chestnut St.