Respect for veterans

I’ll tell you why the vast majority of politicians don’t respect veterans.  They never served our country. They never gave two years, three years, four years, or a career’s worth of years in service to our country.  Maybe they even think we’re stupid for giving years of our lives to serve our country.

They have no idea what it means to be where you have to be when you have to be there. To just do the job you’re assigned to do. Veterans have likely done this and they look back on their service with pride.  And they meet people who they love and share a bond with like no other, even if they never see them again.

Being a politician is not serving our country. They make promises to get elected and then pay lip service to get re-elected for the rest of their lives.

Ralph Holmgren

Sagamore Beach

 Vaccines

With the COVID vaccine, a new malaria vaccine, and a tuberculosis vaccine in development, we are seeing a renaissance in disease prevention. But we squander their lifesaving power if the vaccines never reach communities that need them most. The situation is especially urgent for the more than 10 million children worldwide who’ve never received a single dose of critical childhood vaccines. In 2022, 4.9 million children under the age of 5 died due mostly to preventable health problems like diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles.

But there is proven strategy available that has already saved the lives of over 17.3 million children. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is an international partnership that provides essential supports for locally-led vaccine programs worldwide.

World leaders are coming together to reinvest in Gavi this year. I urge Congress and the Biden Administration to help set the tone for the global community with a bold, multiyear funding pledge. Let’s make sure our medical innovations are actually put to work preventing the diseases they aim to end.

William Deignan

Medford

America’s concerns

Now that the solar eclipse has come and gone most Americans will now focus their attention on our nation’s highest concerns. In recent polls, the top 10 concerns are: immigration, government, economy, inflation, poverty levels, unifying country, race relations, the federal budget,  crime and violence and elections. There are more.

The need is to work now to elect new legislators who may have solutions to improve some of our concerns. This year’s election could have years of lasting effect that could change the course of our government’s future.

The actions taken so far show a disjointed Congress with no consensus to overcome any pending adverse conditions.

With the possibility of a new president and legislative leaders there is hope that we can overcome some of our needs and can work for the good of all the American people.

Bob Sweeney

Warwick, RI