There was a time when we were grateful to get a vaccine and there were side effects, then too

What relief there was in my mother’s face when she showed me the newspaper headline about the arrival of the Salk vaccine, the first effective mass polio vaccine, which arrived in the 1950s. We were all vaccinated as quickly as possible in our local town hall in suburban Sydney. A few years later the Sabin vaccine came into use, an oral vaccine that ultimately replaced the Salk vaccine.

A quick check of the history of polio vaccines shows that none came without side effects and potential risks, even the risk of contracting polio. However, there was no thought of holding back from the Salk vaccine to await a better or safer one. We couldn’t get it quickly enough. We were grateful to receive what was recommended and available at the time. So I did not hesitate to get my AstraZeneca jabs this time, especially as recommended for vulnerable seniors like me.

Margaret Bergomi, Lane Cove, NSW

While it may be true, as Bill Bishop says (Letters, 22/7), the Covid situation is not WWII and saying it was tougher then is unlikely to bring much comfort to those not on the public purse or on a viable retirement plan. People cannot trade or earn an income and yet the bills, land tax and GST keep flooding in. The enemy is not on the doorstep and people are entitled to live and work. Plainly that is not happening for thousands of Australians and people who think otherwise need to strip themselves of all income and certainty and then see just how they cope.

Joanna Wriedt, Eaglemont, Vic

Regarding the article “Tracers a week behind Delta” (22/7), is it possible for you to spread the word and encourage people to use the check-in and check-out function on the Services NSW Covid Safe app?

Using the app provides you with a history of where you have been and when you arrived and, more importantly, when you left. No more remembering – it’s all there for you to use and for the tracers to use.

This may then reduce the load on the contact tracers, plus reduce the load on individuals trying to remember. Who really knows exactly where they were a few days back.

I have not heard anyone in the media or the Government speak of this.

David Brown, Fairlight, NSW

As panic sets in around Australia due to increasing cases, we forget that in a few years all of us will have had or will have Covid. It will be an accepted part of our lives, just like the flu is today. And as more panic sets in around the world because of floods, fires and heatwaves, will we continue to blame an innocuous gas, essential to our very being? Or will we accept a period of change and put our efforts into living with those changes and, where necessary, protecting ourselves against any detrimental effects of those changes?

Ross McDonald, Gordon, NSW

Heading

I think John Coates has forgotten his manners and his position in life. He is the administrator of a sporting organisation that is long past its glory days and certainly should not be running a major event in these Covid times.

The Premier of a state facing a Covid crisis should be at home, not going to an opening event that few will attend. It was interesting to note Coates’s Wikipedia site had been hacked when I visited it at 11am on Thursday, and listed his occupation as “bully”. This was corrected by 11.30am.

Let the Premier do her job, a far more important one than a sports administrator.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic

I join with your editorial (“Olympic win a thumbs up for a sport-loving nation”, 22/7) and congratulate the Palaszczuk government on having Brisbane chosen as the host of the 2032 Olympic Games. No doubt Queenslanders will do Australia and their fellow Australians proud. However, I cannot see Brisbane equalling, let alone excelling, Sydney 2000.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin, ACT

The Queensland Premier is no doubt basking in glory for having secured the 2032 Olympic Games for Brisbane. It would appear that the actual glory should go to Scott Morrison, who had to work out a way of solving her “too clever by half” actions in announcing future federal expenditure without discussing it with the federal government prior to her announcement (“I thought she might have blown it”, 22/7).

Elizabeth Jobson, Tamborine Mountain, Qld

I’m sure a hell a lot of people in Australia would much prefer our politicians to spend the millions it will cost to host the Olympics (yawn) in Brisbane on low-cost housing, especially for the so-called “working poor”. Everyone has a right to shelter.

Michael Monroe, Wilson, WA

Victorians should think carefully before buying tickets for the Brisbane Olympics; we may still be in lockdown.

Roy Travis, Mornington, Vic