A collaborative Upper Valley effort to protect everyone against the flu

This fall in the Upper Valley there have been many opportunities for residents to get seasonal flu vaccine. This year, getting vaccinated against the flu is more important than ever. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot afford to overburden the health care system with flu-related hospitalizations. Also, because the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, it is difficult to distinguish the two infections and health care providers may use scarce resources assuming cases are COVID-19 when they are not.

Fortunately, it appears many Upper Valley residents have heeded the warning and gotten their vaccine. Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the Vermont Department of Health both report higher numbers of vaccines given this year compared with recent years. The Public Health Council is proud to have been part of this effort, providing more than 1,350 free flu vaccines in five community drive-thru clinics during the month of October.

This was a true collaborative effort, and we want to thank the partners who made these clinics possible, including the 99 students from the Geisel School of Medicine who volunteered to administer vaccines; Dr. Annika Brown, who trained the students and recruited 11 of her colleagues from Dartmouth-Hitchcock to supervise the clinics; Dartmouth-Hitchcock, for donating vaccines and clinical supplies; Novo Nordisk and the Lebanon Rotary Club, for providing grants to cover expenses of setting up outdoor clinics; and the community partners who helped coordinate and staff the clinics. There are others who deserve our gratitude. Our oversight in naming you does not diminish our gratitude.

May the seasonal flu vaccine effort next year be less complicated by other factors. But may we never forget how fortunate we are in the Upper Valley to have so many partners working together to protect our community’s health.

ALICE ELY

Grantham

RUDY FEDRIZZI

Lebanon

The writers are executive director and board chair, respectively, of the Public Health Council.

Don’t forget to honor our veterans

In these difficult times, with COVID-19 on our minds, we must not forget to remember and honor our veterans on Veterans Day.

Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is a day to give thanks to all who have served or are now serving in the armed forces — whether active duty, Guard, Reserves or retired — to let them know we appreciate them for their service, for their patriotism, and for their willingness to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy and take for granted every day.

On this day, and every day, acknowledge and give special thanks to our aging World War II, Korean War and Vietnam era veterans. As with all veterans and members of the armed forces, they have earned and deserve our respect.

I applaud my friend Tom Casey, former business manager and current president of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Association, for his view that, “No soldier who fought in any war or conflict to defend our country should be treated without total respect and honor. They deserve the same treatment and respect that the Doolittle Raiders, the Band of Brothers and the Tuskegee Airmen have been given over the decades.”

Quoting Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”

JOHN O’BRIEN

Orford

The writer is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran.

Donald Trump is cornered now, and people are going to get hurt

We have reached the moment that I have been writing about for the past five years. President Donald Trump is backed into a corner. Many of his most wild-eyed followers would surely undertake grave action were he to call for such. And he will.

Trump’s most die-hard loyalists are blinded by their need to feel like this world, so replete with insecurity and fear, somehow makes sense. To many of them, violence in defense of a “stolen election” will make sense. On one hand, this is a fascinating study in how democracies fail. On the other, it’s simply a tragedy. People are going to get hurt.

My hope is that we can look back on this and try to understand just how vulnerable we all are to the manipulative musings, to the terrible lies, of such a madman.

DAN WEINTRAUB

Quechee