Editorial

OUR VIEW Please learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine

Saturday, January 16, 2021
AP File Photo

“Widespread inoculation with this effective vaccine is our best hope for faster control and eventual elimination of the greatest health threat we’ve seen in more than 100 years.”

Those words were written by former Daily American Republic newspaperman John Stanard and they sum up how we feel about an event Jan. 22 to vaccinate nearly 2,000 people against COVID-19.

Yes, many people experience only mild symptoms when they contract the coronavirus. But it has also killed a heartbreaking 387,000 people in the United States since March 2020. It has hospitalized thousands more.

The vaccine offers us an opportunity to halt the spread. It is a chance to protect the most vulnerable among us. It is a step that can help carry us back to the normalcy we all crave.

Poplar Bluff is fortunate. This mass vaccination event is the first of it’s kind to be held in Southeast Missouri, and it’s right on our doorstep.

Between now and Friday, we will work with local doctors and the Butler County Health Department to bring you more information about the vaccination event and why people like Stanard plan to join the fight.

We know these are difficult and confusing times.

We know this is a very personal choice for each of us.

We hope that you’ll take the time, in our pages or through another trusted source, to learn more about the vaccine and seriously consider whether it’s right for you.

We hope to see every spot filled Friday, and at the future vaccination events.

— Daily American Republic

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