Can you please help me?  I'm a long-term reader but I don't know who to get this to.It's simply an opinion piece I'd like you folks to publish if you get a chance.  I wrote it.
The Covid-19 vaccine versus medical purgatory: the choice is clear. On October 30th of this year, I believe that I received the Covid-19 vaccine at a phase 3 trial location in the metropolitan Detroit area.  I have no doubt about this at all. Yes, a doctor did watch me a great deal after the first shot—probably to make sure I did not have an allergic reaction. (As I have far more allergies than the average 61 year-old man, he was right to do so.  I did not have an allergic reaction of any kind.  Not then, not later, and I now believe that such reactions are exceptionally rare.  From what I’ve read, I’m sure the Pfizer trial information shows this to be the case, and there’s no way that I could trust Pfizer more.  Their efforts have been Herculean.  They deserve our praise!  Their efforts make me proud to be an American.)  Yes, the next day, my arm did feel as if my brother had punched it really hard.  So what?  Most of us men have been punched hard at the top of our arm a few times, or more. That’s nothing at all.  It’s not like a hard punch to the stomach.  And yes, I did have some swelling, redness, and pain around the injection area as well.  (But so what?  That’s nothing at all compared to the accomplishment of helping America, in some small way. overcome this challenge!  My ex-Marine father fully believed that you do the right thing for America when you have the opportunity to do so.)  Yes, it was difficult to sleep on my left side as the injection was on my left side.  So what?  For two nights, I mostly slept on the other side.  Yes, I did experience muscle pain for two days but only near the injection site.  Yes, I did have a slight rise in temperature.  So what?  It was a minor rise compared to what the seasonal flu would have given me.  The choice to receive the vaccine essentially came down to this: did I want to have a sore arm for a day or two or potentially end up in a medical purgatory of medical machines and post-infection complications?  I chose the vaccine.  I later received a second shot for the Covid-19 vaccine.  One friend stated that this was reckless as my health is not exemplary.  Another friend shared that “that’s fine for me but not for him.  Still another friend asserted that my efforts weren’t needed as this is all a hoax.  She told me that she doesn’t believe in masks and vaccines.  (That’s okay, but when she gets the deadly coronavirus, I’ll bite my tongue and pray for her.  Many change their tune when they get this virus.)  My wife, a staunch conservative, shared that she was proud of me as masking up and distancing won’t eliminate this covid-19 plague.  (As she’s sewn hundreds of high-quality masks, she would argue that we all should be masking up and distancing, however.)  My mother-in-law—she’s in the hospital right now for Covid-19—would state that I did the right thing.  I’m sure of this.  When she survives her own medical purgatory, I’ll ask her though.  Now, what will you do?  Will you act out fear of two little needles?  Will wait and hope for the best?  Will you pray that Covid-19 magically goes away?  Well, this scourge won’t go away unless we all do what our medical community wants us to do: vaccinate, mask up, and distance.  In my dad’s day, he was part of the Greatest Generation, most Americans would have done this without blinking an eye.  It’s my hope that my boomer generation, and the rest of America, does the same. It comes down to one simple choice. Be safe or find yourself in medical purgatory.  The choice is quite clear to me.Thank you,Brad Neff2210 Vermont DriveTroy, MI 48083 

Wed, Mar 18 at 10:42 AM
This Doctor is telling you you have the panic pandemic not the reality based influenza normal threat that is much more totally important.

Any death and sickness is too much. But what should the USA prioritize?

See Johns Hopkins web sites.

C19 world cases: 207,000. Deaths 8,000 = 3.8% of diagnosed cases. Data is of poor quality confounded by testing rates, selection of tested subjects etc. Not good science guys.

Numbers of undiagnosed & mild infections, just like influenza, presenting as a sniffle or common cold or URI. There is no such thing as a ‘flu” as the word is commonly used. Untested folks and numbers do not enter into statistics that would LOWER the death rate computations. 1,000s more with limited symptoms and Influenza than C19.

C19 US cases: 7,000. Deaths 55 = 0.07% Data and scientific reliability issues equally suspect.

INFLUENZA USA Cases: 26-29,000,000 (millions not thousands) cases in above average year. Deaths 24,-14,000. Death rate = 0.09% Per CDC.
Influenza deaths / C19 deaths = 24,-14,000 / 55.

Influenza vaccine is available and safe despite anti vax hysteria. Ask any real doctor if they give influenza vaccine to their own kids and families- vast majority will say yes. Yet only 50% of USA gets influenza vaccine that, this year, is 45-55% effective per CDC. So 7,000-12,000 preventable annual USA influenza deaths vs 55 from C19- if there was a C19 vaccine. All of this noise is about precisely the wrong thing per real scientific data and social/personal impact.

We don’t waste billions and execute our economy and social /personal lives based on the every year event of Influenza, which is much worse for deaths, real costs, and morbidity. C19 is a pimple on a log. Please don’t make it a PANICDEMIC.

By not providing this background rate. Yahoo is only actively spreading disinformation, putting emotion before reality. Yes, keep reporting on C19, but you are overlooking a much bigger but less flashy issue!!! PLEASE!!!

I am a Board Certified Pediatrician with 39 years experience including private, group and state government practice as well as Senior Medical Director roles for multi-state private and public insurers, hospital sytems and HMOs. Licensed in 6 states, now retired.