“Not All Anti-Vaxxers are Crazy” (Letters, 2/17) is true — some are people with real medical excuses — so that must leave the selfish and misguided. Viruses thrive on this group.

All this “freedom” rhetoric is a ruse. 

In our city there is no freedom to blow leaves and debris into my yard, or rev up your unmufflered hot rod at 11 pm or yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, and there is no freedom for some to endanger me (or cause my death) or anyone else’s by refusing to get a vaccine that has been proven safe. This mantra we hear — “My body, my choice” — only works if you are living outside a city. Urban environments have laws for the safety of all. It’s been that way since the first cities were formed thousands of years ago.

Contrary to some fear-mongering media outlets, the COVID vaccines are thoroughly tested and safe. All vaccines and Rx’s have side effects, and there will be a few people who will react adversely or even die, but those numbers are minimal and statistically anomalous. The real big numbers are the numbers of unvaccinated who are dying in droves.

If science hadn’t made vaccines for polio, measles, dengue fever, flu, SARS2, etc., our species would be gone. 

Be part of the solution in our city and get vaccinated — or go live on an island. 

That’s your “freedom.”

Annie Kayner

Eugene