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Letters May 26: The need for vaccine passports; difficulties in getting the shot

Vaccine passports? Keep them simple Those involved in designing a “vaccine passport” are concerned about what information is collected, by whom, how it will be used and so forth, and rightly so.
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Fraser Health registered nurse Kai Kayibadi draws a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a walk-up vaccination clinic at Bear Creek Park, in Surrey, last week. Letter-writers have a variety of opinions on the implementation of vaccine passports. DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Vaccine passports? Keep them simple

Those involved in designing a “vaccine passport” are concerned about what information is collected, by whom, how it will be used and so forth, and rightly so.

In 2014, 60 Minutes reporter Lesley Stahl visited an underground nuclear missile base. She reported that the system employs the original floppy disks from the 1980s, and that they’re purposely not online. Why? Because it can’t be hacked, that’s why.

The people involved in designing a vaccine passport need to stop thinking high-tech; think low-tech.

The cardboard immunization record card I was given at my first vaccination shows what I received, down to the ­product’s lot number.

It records my name and birthdate; if only it had contained a spot for my thumbprint, which could’ve been taken at the time of vaccination, then I’d have all the information I need (along with picture ID, issued by the province) to prove who I am and that I was vaccinated.

We don’t need to make this complicated; we need to make this simple, easy to produce and difficult to falsify.

Lorraine Lindsay
Victoria

Focus on the right issue: international travel

I find it fascinating that the idea of a proof of COVID-19 vaccination for ­international travel has turned into a mounting fear that such documentation would be used internally by provinces and ­municipalities to verify individual vaccination status before access is ­permitted to venues and events.

Let’s get real — Canada is not a state that tracks its citizens and demands that all of us must carry identification whenever we leave our house.

Without compulsory vaccination, which will never occur in this country, the idea of an internal passport is ludicrous — we simply and eventually will reach “herd immunity,” and that is that.

As far as the general concern of privacy, we should remind ourselves that when we seek to gain access to another country, we forfeit a bit of our privacy by providing through the swiping of our biometric passport some basic information about who we are. It is simply the right of the visited country, whose laws we must abide by, to know who we are.

For those of us who cannot wait to travel internationally when safe, we just want Canada to get on with whatever program the international community collectively wants, and in a timely manner.

Jean-Yves Forcier
Langford

Old vaccine record could be used again

Rather than waste thousands of dollars on a new design, everyone could use the older International Vaccine Record Book many of us used when travelling where specific shots were required to enter the destination country? It is a little smaller than our passport and tucks easily inside it.

Time to recycle, and reuse a good design.

Gail Brighton
Nanoose Bay

Difficult to get a shot before heading to work

My daughter (26 years old) and I have spent quite a lot of time on the phone trying to find a place for her to get a COVID vaccine before she goes to a remote B.C. location to work.

The answer was always that since she lives in Victoria, she must wait her turn.

By the time her turn comes up, she will be at her new job which is in the Queen Charlotte Islands.

This would have meant that she would miss out on her first vaccination and would not get it until she returned to Victoria in September, which would put her at risk for the whole time she is working.

As with a lot of service industry folks, she has been out of work for quite a while and needs to take the job, which was a last-minute offer.

After the last phone call to the vaccine information line without any solution, my daughter finally looked at the list of clinics and found that she could travel to Salt Spring Island and get vaccinated.

I’m feeling relieved that she is now vaccinated and will at least be somewhat more protected, but have to wonder why is it so hard to make an exception if a person has to take more of a risk to travel to be vaccinated than to find a way to fit her in, in her own hometown?

Lynn Elwell
View Royal

Remember those who helped us get by

As we pass from fear and loathing of the COVID-19 virus to more uplifting and forward-looking activities in our future, we must not let the respect and appreciation of all workers, who make our lives easier and sometimes safer, dissipate. Always remember.

A case in point is Hydro workers.

I was amazed at the response; from an initial call at 9 a.m. to report a semi-urgent power line problem to full remedy (a replacement drop from pole to house) in about 90 minutes. Astounding!

The initial call reported the problem and the responder forwarded the details to Victoria dispatch. Dispatch confirmed the details of the problem and promised a truck.

Within 20 minutes a super-friendly and competent lineman arrived. He noted the risk and replaced the line. Ninety minutes from call to completion.

I, of course, thanked him profusely and noted the amazing efficiency of their system. I refrained from slipping him a case of beer (I miss the old days) because that only causes problems workers get nowadays.

Cheers to all working people, and I do remember!

Max Miller
Saanich

Rally in support of logging protesters

Is it any wonder that people feel compelled to defy a court injunction in their effort to save the irreplaceable remnants of old-growth forest in B.C.? What will it take to save that which we can never have again?

I, too, am deeply disappointed in the NDP government’s failure to protect the last vestiges of B.C.’s old-growth forests. We absolutely must protect biodiversity for its own sake and for the future.

The NDP government has failed to implement the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel’s (2020) recommendations. This is tragic. The destruction of B.C.’s priceless old-growth forests would be an unforgivable legacy for any government. It’s time for a full moratorium on all old-growth logging in B.C. before it’s too late.

Nancy Barnes
Victoria

Victoria’s bike lines are not just for bikes

I need to use a small mobile scooter. Victoria’s bicycle lanes are ideal for travelling with one, as I don’t annoy either pedestrians or car drivers.

Best of all, I feel safe. I just wish there more.

Pat Mortimer
Victoria

Yes, cats do kill birds by the billions

Re: “Unbelievable statistics about those killer cats,” letter, May 21.

The letter-writer would have readers believe that cat predation of songbirds is not a problem, saying: “House cats are too lazy to bother [hunting]” and “we would have run out of birds a long time ago.” I am unsure where he got this information, but factually, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Facts: In the U.S. alone, feral cats kill between 1.3 and 4 billion songbirds annually. When domestic cats are included in the calculation, the tally rises to 2.3 and 5.2 billion. That’s capital B, billion. And that’s a conservative estimate.

This information is taken from the Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology website, which cites a peer-reviewed research study authored by Scott Loss, published in the January 2013 edition of the academic journal Nature Communications. In 2020, researcher Kajsa Johansson of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences determined that “domestic cats have contributed to extinction and endangerment of several species of birds, mammals, and reptiles, and constitutes a risk for endangered or threatened ­species, worldwide.”

Songbird populations are poisoned by agricultural pesticides, suffer loss of habitat from human urbanization, hit by vehicles, strike windows, electrocuted by power lines, fly into tall buildings and communication towers, and shredded by wind turbines, to the tune of tens of ­millions per year.

Fortunately, several billion birds are still left in North America as reproduction staves off some losses. In saving songbird populations, the research is unequivocal: spay/neuter your cat and keep it indoors.

Dennis Oliphant
Victoria

Try a cat bib to save birds’ lives

I would like to offer a very workable ­suggestion to both allow your cat ­outdoors while protecting birds.

Bells do not work because cats lie in wait, silently still. They don’t go running across the lawn, bell ringing, to chase a bird.

A cat bib is most effective because when the cat reaches up to catch the bird, the cat bib flaps in the cat’s face, preventing her from precisely seeing her mark. It attaches to a break-away collar, is lightweight, adjustable.

Cats get used to it fairly quickly. They will snag on a twig or low-lying branch occasionally and the collar will release, so you’ll need to try to find the collar sometimes. Keep a spare.

But I find they are the only thing that works. No more dead birds.

Claire Bouchard
North Saanich

Don’t blame cats for all the bird deaths

There have been several letters recently regarding cats killing birds. I would like to offer the following perspective.

I am a bird-lover, put up multiple bird-feeders over the winter, and have a garden full of birds year round. I am also a cat-lover, and have a free-range cat.

Occasionally I find the remains of a bird in my garden. Much more often I find the remains of a rat, at a ratio of about 20:1 (my cat can’t fly). I believe that cat-haters do not take into consideration the numerous other factors that reduce bird populations.

1. Primarily, birds need habitat: tall trees, hedges and shrubs. Everywhere around us, where houses are being demolished and rebuilt, the entire lot is razed to the ground.

It appears that developers are exempt from any tree bylaws. ­Neighbours ­petition to save trees, to no avail. ­Subdivisions appear to require the removal of mountains, let alone every ­living piece of plant life.

2. In our urban landscape we’ve dramatically altered the normal predator/prey balance. Small birds used to be preyed on by owls, hawks and eagles, whose numbers have been diminished through lack of habitat. Now, birds are preyed on by raccoons, squirrels and — yes — some cats.

3. People want easy-care lots, sanitized with wood chips, and sterilized with pesticides. Pesticides kill insects; birds eat poisoned insects and die. Much has been said recently about the death of owls due to rat poison. Cats offer a non-toxic ­solution to rat control.

4. Cat-haters are quite happy to let Fido run free, flushing birds and destroying the nests of ground-nesting birds, as well as disrupting other wildlife. Earlier today I witnessed a border collie ­munching on a nest of dark-eyed junco fledglings.

It’s far too easy to cite vast numbers of birds lost to cats.

No one can persuade me that the loss of more than four billion birds in the U.S., or three to four million in Canada, has actually been tallied and tied to domestic cats.

Loss of habitat, changes in food source (especially insects) due to climate change, urbanization and pesticide use contribute far more damage to bird populations than domestic cats. But it’s always easy to have a scapegoat rather than accept responsibility for our actions.

Liz Williams
Victoria

Big dogs run free, the people run scared

For many years, I have enjoyed the dogs running free on the Dallas Road walk. But in the ER, in the Royal Jubilee Hospital, last week, between X-rays and CT scan, I was asked many times what happened.

The response to my explanation was that the ER is hearing this a lot: People are injured, knocked down by dogs on Dallas Road.

I was knocked sideways, twisting my leg. My knee and my ankle are broken. I am writing because this is not only my one freak accident. Big dogs running free are apparently a serious hazard to ­walkers.

One solution to this hazard could be a designated enclosed area where dogs can run free; otherwise, they must be leashed.

I trust the city will look after this, so we can all safely enjoy our beautiful new walkway.

(A huge thank you to the many kind people who stopped to help on Dallas Road! What a kind community we have.)

Mary Douthwaite
Victoria

Off the park trails, damaging the moss

Last year I was hiking in Mount Douglas Park and noticed considerably more trail users due to COVID-19.

That was all fine until I heard crashing and skidding above me on Little Mount Doug. There, I saw two newbie “hikers” loudly congratulating each other on their route finding skills as they skidded down and knocked moss off rock faces that had existed there for generations.

When I told them they were supposed to stay on the trail, I was not-so-gently told what I could do with my suggestion.

A truly disappointing experience.

Mark Barnes
Saanich

Forget the bike lanes, try pork back ribs

If I may be permitted to comment on something other than the scourge our bicycle lanes or the inadequacies of city council, Eric Akis’s recent pork back ribs with Carolina-style mustard barbecue sauce recipe was killer!

The man is a culinary genius and should consider running for prime ­minister!

Phil Redgrave
Cordova Bay

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