Needle pics do not help those with true phobia, doctor says

Enough needle images!

A recent article featured how needle phobia is stopping many from getting a COVID vaccination. As a physician with decades of experience, I recognize that this is real and a show stopper for many.

For the last year, I’ve watched all the major networks report nightly on COVID. Invariably, while the talking heads blather, the background is an ongoing video of needles entering arms. Talk about putting needle phobics in full panic mode!

A few weeks ago, I wrote to several networks raising this issue and suggested they’d made their point. Enough already! Apparently, my emails didn’t get to the right person.

Tom Downs, M.D., Beaufort

Historic cemetery requires upkeep

Graveyards and cemeteries are sentinels of history, and the Bluffton Cemetery is one of them.

This silent roadside sanctuary provides a place of peace for the deceased with no living relatives, early local Bluffton families, seasonal workers, and others who simply came to Bluffton and remained.

Over the years, the cemetery has begun to look tired and worn. While many families diligently maintain their plots, other descendants, acquaintances, friends, and community volunteers need the public to have more awareness about the cemetery’s required general maintenance.

Dorothy P. Gnann, Beaufort

Reach out to lawmakers

Too many of our representatives have lost the thread. They seem to have closed their eyes to the real needs of our nation and of our planet.

The majority of Americans support proposed economic, social and climate legislation. But a minority of elected representatives have chosen to ignore our real needs in favor of outdated ideology and downright lies.

Please reach out to your elected representatives and urge them to pass the important bills now in Congress for infrastructure, the climate and social justice. We must work together NOW.

Carol Brown, Beaufort

Vaccinating is patriotic

I remember, as a child, standing in line to get my sugar cube. In the sugar cube was vaccine to prevent polio, a debilitating and deadly disease.

I never thought about being proud of what I was doing, and I certainly didn’t think my parents were courageous for forcing me to take the vaccine. After all, the government mandated it.

I also remember my dad talking about rationing coupons during World War II, where the government limited citizens’ access to things like gasoline, sugar, meat and tires. It was all done in the name of shared sacrifice to ensure victory in the war.

I was impressed with the stories my dad told, but I can’t say that I was ever “proud” of his effort.

Now I can’t help but feel proud. Proud of my parents’ ability to make sacrifices for the common good without whining and complaining.

How has it come to this? That I should feel proud for doing something that any normal, well-adjusted, patriotic, caring person would do?

Tim Mueller, Columbia