Great vaccination experiences: Letters to the editor, Feb. 14, 2021

Vaccine was a privilege for her

I am responding to the editorial last month about health-care workers being role models for the COVID vaccine. I work in a major medical center here in Fresno, and I have gotten my Pfizer vaccines. I've tried really hard to understand why my co-workers want to wait and see the side effects before they have it administered, and really don't want to judge them. But, oh boy, we have the honor of being the first to be vaccinated before elderly, farmworkers, those with compromised immune systems and the general public. I am not a nurse but I have gone into patient care areas. God bless the nurses and front line workers. But not quite sure what medical personal are waiting for.

With my first shot I had an extremely sore arm and couldn't sleep very well that night. But I worked it out.

Every morning I come into work and get discharges on the people who died. My colleagues may want to think about our privilege.

Vaccine process was great for them

Kudos to the Fresno County Department of Public Health: after getting appointments online, we arrived at the Fresno County Fairgrounds just 30 minutes before the appointed time and were whisked through with perfect efficiency, done in less than half an hour.

The people manning the checkpoints, the registrar, the nurse who administered the Pfizer vaccine, the nurse who monitored us post-vaccination, and the person who checked us out –– every single one was friendly and professional and efficient. This does not happen without a lot of careful planning, so thank you, FCDPH. See you in three weeks for our boosters!

Another Black man gets cuffed, shamed

 Another Black man — this time Joe Perry, a Christian pastor who raises young men from troubled backgrounds in his own home, guided by his faith — gets shackled and humiliated by the Sheriff's Office for the crime of driving while Black. In his own neighborhood.

Apparently the deputy felt Rev. Perry was being "erratic" and "aggressive" — code for a nervous, overempowered cop looking at a proud Black man standing in his own driveway, wondering why he's being hassled — again.

For a license plate light. For Rev. Perry, that little light was enough to get hooked up and shoved into the back of a patrol car.

In today's America — and under the boot heel of Sheriff Margaret Mims's Sheriff's Office — an African-American man of God may at any moment find himself accused and handcuffed, and hoping things don't get even worse, just for trying to be a man of his community.

This has got to stop.

Good riddance to Trumpertantrums

Reading in the Sunday Bee the numerous articles about our dearly departed president leaves a number of sad impressions. Those impressions create the image of a man who is overly spoiled, very angry, and totally self-absorbed. Such personality traits are more usually associated with coddled or tired youngsters than with presidents of the United States.

It is wonderful to have an intelligent, thoughtful, and happier person sitting in the White House. And, thankfully, we will no longer be subjected to our daily dose of Trumpertantrums.

This story was originally published February 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Great vaccination experiences: Letters to the editor, Feb. 14, 2021."