Anti-vax letter carelessly printed by Herald

In his Dec. 31 letter, Richard Podlesnik spewed, with the acquiescence of The Durango Herald, a number of false and easily refuted lies about the COVID-19 vaccine. His source for this dubious disinformation is the infamous anti-vax zealot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Yes, he’s the same RFK Jr. who required guests at his recent Christmas party to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine! Good thing for him that hypocrisy isn’t a fatal disease!

Which does not excuse the paper for abdicating its responsibility to disseminate accurate information within its pages. Why you, Editor of the Opinion Page, would allow this nonsense to further pollute the “debate” about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine is beyond understanding. It is a violation of the trust readers place in your judgment.

A short detour to fact check Mr. Podlesnik’s list of bogus claims would have revealed a total lack of factual grounding. Among the fact checkers that you could have consulted: McGill University’s Office for Science and Society; Reuters Fact Check; factcheck.org; USA Today Fact Check; or even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apparently, you did none of that basic background search before you recklessly published this anti-vax screed.

I am sorry it’s necessary to call you out on such an obvious error. I trust others with medical backgrounds will also write to address the specific falsehoods you carelessly printed. My hope is that you take steps to be sure that this sort of thing does not happen in the future. We rely on you!

Larry A. Bollinger

Durango

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from The Durango Herald can be found here ***