Sir, – On Sunday, my wife and I had our second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Like Fintan O'Toole we are in our 60s. Unlike Mr O'Toole we do not feel like eejits ("People who did what they were told on vaccines feel like eejits," Opinion, June 26th).
Rather we feel gratitude to the scientists who developed this and other vaccines in record time and to those who have been working hard to deliver them.
Of course there will be anomalies in the implementation of any national programme on this scale. But offering people a choice of vaccines, which is the essence of his case, would have led to chaos. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
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Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole in his article would do well to remember the advice from Dr Michael Ryan from the World Health Organisation in the early days of this pandemic that “perfection is the enemy of the good when it comes to emergency management, speed trumps perfection”.
As a recipient of the Astra Zeneca vaccine also in his 60s, I do not feel like an eejit! I appreciate that with limited vaccine supplies, changing recommendations on vaccine suitability and, most of all, the need to vaccinate as much of the population as quickly as possible, some age cohorts and groups may feel aggrieved.
Mr O’Toole should take the wider perspective of what is good for the whole of society rather than the narrow concerns of his own age group.
– Yours, etc,
EAMONN MOLONEY,
Kilbrittain,
Co Cork.