Following the lead of our local Board of Health, the Board of the Jefferson County Public Hospital District #2 unanimously passed a virtually identical resolution “declaring health misinformation a public health crisis.”
The preambles quote our U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy:
“I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID- 19 pandemic and beyond. Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort.”
Both resolutions assert: The health of our community depends not only on the behavior of us as individuals but also on the health of our healthcare and public health services and the essential workers who provide those services.
The resolution urges all residents of our county to get vaccinated with age-approved vaccines, if medically appropriate; urges all those who are spreading information about the vaccine and the pandemic to use reliable sources of data that follow the preponderance of evidence; urges all those who disagree with public health mandates to use civil dialogue and to avoid intimidation and threats of violence; and urges everyone in our community to appreciate, support and thank our dedicated public health and healthcare employees, since the health of our community depends on them.
Kees Kolff
Port Townsend