Once again, the ugly head of the perceived many evils of the COVID vaccine is being raised by the Legislature. Bills being considered are LD 871, An Act to Exempt All Persons, Including Health Care and Emergency Services Personnel, from COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements and LD 436, An Act to Prohibit State Agencies from Promoting the COVID-19 Vaccination to Children.

Not to bore readers with too many statistics, but let’s review some history. During the COVID pandemic (the official years are 3/20 to 5/23, when the public health emergency status ended), there were approximately 1.1 million deaths nationally and over 3,000 deaths in Maine. Nationally, it is estimated that 319,000 deaths could have been prevented in the first year of the vaccine if more people had been vaccinated.

To put it in other words, about half of COVID deaths could have been prevented if more people had been vaccinated. Another study estimated that the vaccine prevented 139,000 deaths in the first five months alone after the vaccine rollout. It is estimated that 3.2 million deaths and 18.5 million hospitalizations were prevented worldwide due to the vaccine in the first year after its rollout, saving $1.15 trillion.

Without the vaccine, there would have been more that four times the deaths. In Maine, a study suggests that about 1,100 COVID deaths could have been prevented in the first year if more people had been vaccinated, or, in other words, half of COVID deaths could have been prevented.

As a reminder, it was in “red” states that the disease burden was higher than in “blue” states. Maine did relatively well because of a high vaccination rate. It should be noted that the the current proposals in the Legislature are being made by Republicans. COVID has not gone away. It’s still causing illness, hospitalizations and, yes, deaths. But a vaccine prevents serious illness and probably transmission.

The microseconds of the collective American memory these days has again and again forgotten the fear, pain and tragedies inflicted on families during the pandemic. Why the COVID vaccine is always singled out for vilification is well beyond reason.

I’m old enough to remember as a child how a vaccine was considered a miracle. The return of a periodic polio epidemic before my time was no longer the feared ogre that sent well-off people in the cities to the country to wait them out. COVID vaccines are safe, effective and prevent spread of disease to others. The state should promote them, not hide or discourage them.