Mick Malloy, Suffolk Park
As one would expect in Byron Shire, debate rages over whether to vaccinate or die prematurely.
In his (Letter, 18 August) contribution to the debate, Noah Yamore (from Mullum!), appears disinclined to be vaccinated because the ‘oligarchy’ is in the process of eliminating 90 per cent of the Earth’s human population via COVID vaccines. He knows for a fact that the ‘oligarchy’ has been working on an airborne virus for decades to achieve this goal. The only question I would ask Noah is, with 90 per cent of us gone, why would you want to be left here amongst such unpleasant company?
Despite every scientifically advanced nation on the planet clamouring to either produce or procure the new COVID vaccines, Rachael Terry chooses not to be vaccinated with them until she sees the long-term results of God-knows-how-many triple blind studies (Letters, 4 August). Rachael claims not to be anti-vaccines per se, just anti the COVID ones during a COVID crisis. Rachael expressed how shocked and disappointed she was by The Echo’s pro-vaccination bias. Could I suggest that it’s less a bias thing and more to do with the paper adopting a rational, optimistic stance, one which appeals to the 95 per cent of its readers who don’t harbour a death wish.
Like quite a few in the Shire, Rachael believes the vaccinated should take a chill pill and not hassle the unvaxxed. She asks the valid question: what is vaccination all about if the vaccinated don’t have confidence in being protected? Well, I can tell Rachael and her cohort what it’s all about. I have a scheduled colonoscopy that’s 18 months overdue thanks to the disruption already caused by COVID, so when her unvaccinated mob flood Lismore Base Hospital, I’ll end up having to remove my own bloody polyps.
The unvaccinated ‘demand’ that they not be penalised in any way for their choice. Good luck with that in the marketplace. Plus, it’s a sentiment possibly not shared by exhausted ICU staff after they’ve tragically transferred the virus from their unvaccinated, ventilated, dying patient to their own vulnerable parents.
Mandy’s heartfelt Soapbox plea (Echo, 21 July) for more love and understanding from the locals in this time of crisis incited numerous responses, none more exuberant than Duncan Shipley-Smith’s entrance into the debate (Echo, 28 July). Mandy’s audacious plea to be able to wear a mask and not get yelled at certainly hit a Duncan nerve. He felt she was being dismissive of his right to challenge modern medical science, government heavy-handedness via lockdowns, corporate intrusion into democracy, the introduction of mass surveillance, the incorrect classification of a pandemic etc. etc. Like Duncan, I’m all for checks and balances on government and big business, strengthening human rights and preserving our freedoms, but I would say to Duncan, mate, I’m happy to help you redraft the constitution, but while the Delta variant goes shopping in Woolies, I’ll do whatever it fucking takes to stay out of its trolley.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
