Don’t spout falsehoods about a disease that has killed 600,000-plus Americans

Let me apologize up front for getting riled over all this talk about Covid-19 and who are the official spokespeople with all the data to answer your questions regarding testing, treatment, safety and effectiveness. With all due respect to Mr. (not Dr.) Tony Ansaldi, who wrote a letter to the editor stating “he has chosen not to be a guinea pig” and supported his decision based on his yearlong scientific study on the FDA’s approval requirements for toothpaste. You are correct, this is the United States and people have a right to express their opinions in different forums. However, we also have a responsibility, when dealing with issues of life and death, to be sure our opinions are based on fact and derived from reliable sources.

I Googled “Tony Ansaldi” to find out what his credentials were and I suggest that those of you who are not vaccinated and in search of answers do likewise before making a critical decision involving your life. Mr. Ansaldi went to Brooklyn College, a liberal arts college. He posted his resume under his company’s name-AIMA Consulting LLC. He worked for companies in consumer goods, textiles, personal care and cosmetics which his current company, of which he is president, is active in. I could not find any data on medical degrees, technical courses such as virology, etc., that could lend credibility to his expertise. This is not the first, nor probably the last time unsupported claims about Covid-19 have been made.

Here are some facts to contemplate. Keep in mind over the course of the past year or so, 600,000-plus Americans have died from Covid-19 — that is more American deaths than all the wars since World War I.

The vaccines are nearly 100% effective at preventing death or hospitalization. Without the benefit of the vaccines, Covid-19 can cause serious illness or death and an estimated 3.3 million Americans will have long term effects from it;

Since March 2021, I believe, the vaccines have been available and over 300 million doses have been inoculated. The vaccines are new but for the last 2 decades scientists have been working on the technology so when the virus was identified in February of 2020, scientists already had a major advantage to find the vaccine that affected the Covid-19 virus. This had a positive impact on turnaround time to bring to market. Now they are working to find cures for the variant strains being mutated. The more people vaccinated, the less opportunity for variants to evolve and spread.

Even after vaccination, it is recommended that we continue to wear masks in certain conditions until enough individuals are vaccinated to produce community protection. Do not assume that because the daily death toll has decreased dramatically that we are safe. States with LOW percentages of vaccinated people (Miss., Fla., Ga., etc.) are now undergoing surges of the virus.

You can access this information yourselves at covid19.nj.gov/index.html. I did, however, want to give you enough facts that would peak your interest to find answers to all your questions. I wish you all well.

Peter Compa

Wantage