Letters to the Editor Thursday, Aug. 25

Be critical of new political commercials

In case you are a reader of The Daily Gazette who does not watch TV, I can inform you that election season is upon us.
My cable stations are flooded with election ads during prime time, and I have made some observations about them.
The two parties have fairly different ideas on convincing you how to vote. Let’s look at them both.
The Democrats are all in bright colors like a Toyota ad and they are labeled as Democrats left and right. They feature whatever policy the candidate feels is important to him or her, and in most cases mention their local roots.
The policies they highlight are usually climate, healthcare and economy related. There is not much mention of their opponent.
The Republicans feature violence and name calling, and they seldom mention their own party, or their own candidate in some cases.
They just tell you who to vote against. They show all the Democrats in black and white then like in The Wizard of Oz switch to color for their own candidate.
The policies they talk about are law-and-order related, mostly about how we should be afraid of riots all the time from the videos they show. But they offer no solutions other than handcuffs. And taxes, they hate taxes.
The most amusing one by far shows the former president playing tennis in an unforgiving pose and mentions a certain politician being a Trump kiss-ass. I’ll leave it to you to judge that one.
Paul Donahue
Niskayuna

Kids need to get HPV vaccinations

The Cancer Prevention in Action (CPiA) Program has good news.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination rates in New York state among 13-17 year olds significantly improved from 57% in 2019 to 68% in 2020.
While this is promising, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted preventive care for children, including the HPV vaccine.
There is still work to be done. The goal of the NYS Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan goal is to get 80% of 13-17 year olds vaccinated against HPV.
Parents need to be educated to dispel the myths they hear about the HPV vaccine.
Strong health care provider recommendations are needed to move parents to vaccinate. Reminding parents to get their children caught up on HPV vaccination is crucial. Here’s why:
HPV is a virus and there is no treatment/cure for an infection.
There aren’t symptoms to know you have the virus. The virus can cause many types of cancer.
The HPV vaccine prevents children from getting certain cancers as they get older. The virus can cause cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal, and cancers of the mouth and throat.
The younger the vaccine is given, the better it works to prevent cancer for boys and girls beginning at age 9.
CPiA works to increase HPV vaccination rates by educating our communities. The CPiA Program collaborates with the NYS Cancer Consortium and its HPV Coalition to implement strategies to improve HPV vaccination rates. To learn more about CPiA visit www.takeactionagainstcancer.com or call 518-770-6815.
Kelsey Carpe
Amsterdam
The writer is health education promotions coordinator, Cancer Prevention in Action Program of Fulton, Montgomery & Schenectady Counties.

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