Letters to the Editor: Anti-vaccine LAPD officers get no sympathy from Times readers

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·2 min read
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 21, 2021: Members of the LAPD make their way towards City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
LAPD officers walk toward Los Angeles City Hall on June 21. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: My family and many people we know have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines and suffered no ill effects other than a sore arm for a couple of days. ("Thousands of LAPD employees plan to seek exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandate," Sept. 13)

Police and firefighters who refuse to be vaccinated because it is their "personal choice" remind me of my kids when they were 10 and 12 at Kaiser waiting to get the hepatitis vaccine, running around the exam room screaming and crying, "No shot, it hurts!"

Vaccine deniers are obviously not aware (or don't care) that 99% of deaths from COVID-19 since July have been among the unvaccinated.

Jennifer Rabuchin, Burbank

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To the editor: Isn't it just great that more than 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees now plan to pursue religious exemptions from rules requiring city workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19?

It's so heartwarming that they all simultaneously had their come-to-Jesus moment and found religion at virtually the same instant. What are the odds of this ever happening? Only Vegas knows for sure.

Talk about divine intervention. One should never cease to believe in miracles, and our very own LAPD is the perfect example of that.

Mark Richardson, Encinitas

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To the editor: Please tell me exactly what religion it is that bans vaccinations.

Those LAPD officers, and others like them, have had multiple vaccinations already. They have already been vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough and any number of other diseases.

The religious exemption is a scam, pure and simple. Government agencies are pressured into allowing it by right-wing anti-vaxxers invoking the 1st Amendment, which says nothing about religion being an excuse to endanger public health and safety.

Agencies allowing religious exemptions should require employees to show documents prohibiting vaccination and evidence of regular attendance at houses of worship.

Karen Hamstrom, Mission Viejo

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To the editor: My takeaway from the LAPD employees' fight against COVID-19 vaccine mandates is that if a police officer — especially one who is unmasked — tries to pull me over for driving 80 mph in a 25-mph zone, they have no right to try to take away my freedom to do this because they are perpetuating government overreach and tyranny.

When I see a car chase on TV, I will no longer root for the police to catch the driver; instead, I shall root for the freedom fighter fleeing the oppressors.

William Elmelund, West Hollywood

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.