As a regular reader of The Daily World I have been following Karen Harris Tully’s journal of COVID fear and hope. I can sympathize with her feelings of fear and helplessness for the health of her child. Thirty-five years ago my then 16-month-old son nearly died after getting his MMR vaccine.

She should be aware that a “summer cold” is a corona virus in the same family as COVID-19. All the mask wearing, social distancing and self sacrificing of normal routines and isolation from loved ones did not stop the infection of the cold corona virus but it does stop the transmission of the Covid-19 corona virus?

With the flu season coming up there is something else to be concerned about. Before you rush to get a flu vaccine, consider the results of a recent Pentagon study. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31607599) The study found that compared to people who did not get the flu shot, those who got the shot had a 36% greater chance of being infected with corona viruses, 51% greater chance of being infected with human metapneumovirus and 59% greater chance of being infected with other unidentified infections. This is due to something called “vaccine derived virus interference” with a vaccine against one infection affecting the risk of other infections.

Of course, annually, very few children die from influenza or pneumonia, but the number is 10 times greater then children dying from COVID-19.

James Preisinger

Pacific Beach