Presuming the quotes attributed to Cr Michael Lyon in The Echo (27 September 2021) are accurate, he is correct on a number of points.
He shouldn’t ‘tell people what to do with their personal medical choices’, or ‘shame them, or bully them or push them, or tell them that, you know they’re letting us all down’. That would be entirely inappropriate as personal medical choices are for the individual.
What he could do however, as a publicly elected municipal leader during a global pandemic affecting the livelihoods of, and taking the lives of, many millions of people, is show leadership. This would involve recognising the problem and the most effective solution we have available to us, namely vaccination, and encouraging his constituents to consider the personal medical choice to have the vaccine.
There are many ways Michael could do that, as shown by the innumerable public officials who have done so, and continue to do so, across this country.
No ‘telling, shaming, bullying, pushing or letting anyone down’ required. Easy Michael.
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. 
