There is a killer on the loose in Baker County. In the past year and a half he’s killed 25 of our citizens. Yet the average Baker County citizen seems rather unconcerned.

“Why should I worry? In a county of 16,000 my chance of getting killed is practically zero.”

The killer I refer to is COVID-19 and its variants, the cause of a world-wide pandemic.

The only way to defeat the virus is through vaccination. That’s how measles, polio, and other killers have been practically eliminated from the Earth.

For decades children have not been allowed to attend public school without proving they’ve been vaccinated for the following eight diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps, and rubella.

If we adults think that’s necessary for our children, why would we not apply the same standard to ourselves? Lamentably Baker County has some of the lowest adult vaccination rates in the nation.

The only way to defeat the virus is for everyone to get vaccinated.

Gary Dielman

Baker City