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LETTER: Base medical decisions on true facts

When people have a medical issue, the majority of them consult a doctor. For the most part, they trust the doctor’s medical advice and treatment options.
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When people have a medical issue, the majority of them consult a doctor. For the most part, they trust the doctor’s medical advice and treatment options.

Thousands of doctors in every country around the world are saying that getting COVID vaccinations should help prevent people from becoming really sick, and possibly death if they get infected with the virus. They are also recommending public activity restrictions in the hope of limiting COVID transmission within the community.

Some people around the world don’t trust these doctors’ advice. I find that difficult to understand.

I believe that politicians should not be announcing COVID health restrictions. Those restriction announcements should be made by health professionals only.

People don’t trust politicians and they dislike politicians who are associated with political parties whose principles don’t align with their own principles. That’s democracy. However, those political thoughts often play a role in an individual’s personal choices. I believe that politics should not be a factor when the world is fighting a global pandemic.

READ: Canadian health networks feeling strain as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise

However, it is the government’s job to create laws. Laws that are designed to protect the whole community.

I choose to smoke cigarettes, even though I know that doing so poses a risk to my health. But that is my choice.

I see a strong parallel between the intent of anti-smoking laws and the COVID public health restrictions.

There is a lot of data available on the Internet. Anyone can post data whenever they want. However, can we trust all of this data to be factual?

It’s easy for us to pick and choose data that aligns with our beliefs. It’s also possible that reading and studying data can change our beliefs. We owe it to ourselves to carry out the due diligence required to ensure the data that we are looking at is not erroneous.

Everyone is free to make their own health care decisions. I hope that everyone makes their decisions based on verified medical facts, and their decisions are not swayed by political preferences or anger towards a government. I make the personal choice to endanger my health by smoking cigarettes. However for the most part, because of laws, I am not endangering the health of anyone else.

Russ Watson

Sooke



editor@sookenewsmirror.com

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