Jumping hurdles to give COVID-19 vaccine

I am a retired pediatrician in Nassau County with 37 years of experience, including vaccine administration. I contacted Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s office to offer to give shots, given the increased need for more rapid administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. I was told that I could apply to the Medical Reserve Corps. To my dismay, I was told I would have to reactivate my medical license and undergo a police background check, which would take six to eight weeks to complete, before becoming part of the county’s Medical Reserve Corps. In these extraordinary times, I believe extraordinary but safe accommodations should be made to enable qualified people like me to participate in fighting this pandemic, freeing up active medical personnel to care for those already sick, without obstruction or undue delays. My medical career and expertise are easily documented. Newsday reports that retired nurses, and possibly nursing and medical students, are being asked to aid in this effort. I don’t believe that they have to go through this same arduous process. I, however, will still activate my medical license, obtain the required certificate needed and document my qualifications. I want to help.

Dr. David Cruvant,

Plainview

My husband and I are both over 65, and we sit here today still homebound, for the most part, for nine months. Now, with a lifesaving drug available, it sits on shelves around our state. Are our state and local officials asleep at the switch? We knew months ago that the vaccine was coming, yet it’s on shelves while lives are at risk. Cosmetic face-lifts go on every day as do other non-essential elective surgeries. Can’t these "essential workers" give injections in our hospitals’ cafeterias? How about school nurses pitching in? School gyms are vacant. So many have pointed fingers at Washington as if the pandemic originated there. Now, I believe we see clearly the incompetence of our state and local officials when the ball is in their court.

Mary Adrian,

Huntington

Heeding the warning

Make no mistake about it, what we witnessed at the U.S. Capitol was an insurrection. It was orchestrated by the president and enabled by many elected Republicans who have refused to stand up to him. It was a dark day in American history. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) and a group of other congressional right-wingers pushed baseless objections to the presidential election. We see that act, in and of itself, as despicable. It undermined the foundation of our democracy. As a trade union movement, we understand the historical significance of democracy as the cornerstone of our rights. The laws protecting working people are far from perfect, and we work tirelessly to change them and make our voices heard — without violence. We say this president and his cronies are no friends of working families or of America. The violence in the sacred halls of government cannot be disentangled from the seditious actions of Zeldin and other right-wing Republicans. We call on President Donald Trump and Zeldin to resign.

John R. Durso,

Roger Clayman,

Hauppauge

Editor’s note: Durso is president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, and Clayman is its executive director.

The reader who wrote it was dishonest to call the Capitol riots "anti-American" needs to go back to school. The Boston Tea Party was not perpetrated by Americans. America did not exist at that time. They were British subjects under the rule of George III who ruled from 3,000 miles away. These British subjects were forced to pay unfair taxes, quarter British troops and subject themselves to the arbitrary rule of a crown-appointed governor. The American revolution was British subjects fighting other British subjects. They weren’t trying to overthrow the government. All they wanted from England was the right to self-govern. The "American Revolution" started several months later when those colonists (Britons born on American soil) protested a new tax and were fired upon by British troops, killing a Black man, Crispus Attucks. So, yes, the riots on Capitol Hill were anti-American. They were not protesting unfair taxes, or other such improprieties. They were told to proceed to the Capitol by President Donald Trump and profess their anger at his losing the election. This was not about them. It was all about him.

James DiGregorio,

Garden City

For those screaming that President Donald Trump’s freedom of speech is being violated by Twitter and Facebook shutting him down, it’s not. Not all speech is free. You cannot yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater not on fire. A drunken late-night Facebook rant against your boss is not protected. You cannot spew lies at rallies in Georgia and Washington that incite an insurgence at the Capitol. When Trump on video told the insurgents to "go home," he started with, "We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election. Go home. We love you, and you are very special." Did he think that was going to make them go home? Categories of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment include speech that incites illegal conduct and speech that incites imminent lawless action. Twitter and Facebook were right to ban Trump’s accounts. They did it because they wanted to prevent further violence, lies and the spread of viral disinformation, which Trump has a habit of doing. It is disgusting they felt they had to do it to a man who is our president.

Susan Hermer,

Commack

More focus is needed to understand the intersection of white nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism on display as the Capitol. Protesters proudly wore clothing that suggested the Holocaust did not go far enough in its genocide against Jews in Europe. But, so far, I have not heard a single Republican condemn the terrorists for displaying anti-Semitic phrases, not even Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), my Jewish congressman. Republicans also need to name the racism that intersected with anti-Semitism as the Confederate battle flag was paraded inside the Capitol, where it never had been before. But the Confederate battle flag has been adopted by neo-Nazis in Germany, who are prohibited under German law from displaying the swastika. Now this flag has meaning for anti-Semitic groups globally. The Big Lie that our presidential election was stolen, combined with racial and religious intolerance, led to this insurrection. We must hold Republicans accountable for their failure to condemn the racism and anti-Semitism in the terrorist attack on the Capitol.

Phyllis Hartmann,

Bellport

As a proud Army veteran who was stationed in West Germany, I was part of a unit that earned the motto "First at Vicksburg" during the previous traitorous rebellion against our union. I am ashamed of some of our citizens, especially former and present veterans who support our "commander in chief." I’m amazed how, considering President Donald Trump’s disrespect for true American patriots such as the late Sen. John McCain, the Gold Star parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, and his own staff member Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, he even received one veteran’s vote. To me, he was a coward during the Vietnam War and is a coward now.

Denis Warchola,

Southampton

Editor’s note: The writer is a retired FDNY captain whose brother, FDNY Lt. Michael Warchola, was killed on 9/11.

As an immigrant and resident of Setauket for more than 50 years, I have been proud to live in a historic place that played a critical role in our nation’s birth. The Setauket Patriots were heroes who transmitted critical messages to George Washington’s army. Our children grew up with a reverence and respect for its role in the American story. The present-day Setauket Patriots have brought infamy to Setauket. In my view, they do not shine with the heroism of the original patriots who risked their own safety to create a free republic. I consider these self-styled "Patriots," who concede that 300 members traveled to Washington but deny entering the building, to be part of the ill-informed nihilists who stormed our Capitol, threatened our government and desecrated the walls of this temple of democracy.

Vivian Viloria-Fisher,

Setauket

Editor’s note: The writer is a former Suffolk County legislator.

President Donald Trump turned on his country with more rancor and vehemence than he has on our foreign adversaries. What is the matter with our leadership? This man has been acting crazed yet is allowed to remain in the White House? In what other profession or job would this be tolerated? I view Trump as a dangerous despot who is still being coddled. He should be removed in either handcuffs or a straitjacket.

Sue Parker,

Stony Brook

So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now a qualified mental health expert? To me, calling the president "unhinged" is slanderous at the very least. I believe that her phoning the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to keep the nuclear codes from the president not only shows her ignorance about how the process works but is also treasonous — she is calling for a coup. She has been so obsessed for the last four years about President Donald Trump that, in my view, perhaps she may be bordering on "unhinged" herself. When they examine Trump, I say they should take a look at Pelosi, too.

Thomas Atkinson,

Hauppauge