At the November 3 Port Townsend Schoolboard meeting following the fair, the board mentioned the “Trunk or Treat” used was used to provide an easy way for parents and kids to get the COVID-19 shots and boosters. The school district did not have to pay for the shots, the state government covered the cost.

“It is baffling” said ICWA member Bob Runnells, “How the Department of Health feels the need to use a Halloween theme to entice families to get the shots that are freely available. It’s also offensive that tax dollars were used to conduct this redundant event. It seems the department has extra resources — staff, shots and funds — to continue marketing the shots that not too many people want.”

Another parent called the event “highly disturbing, and yet it [the event] ironically reflects the ghoulish nature of public health today. They wear disguises of respectability, use luring language, offer bribes and rewards, and when those fail, resort to punishment, like exclusions. It would be funny if the apples they are offering weren’t poisoned. In the beginning, when the shots first came out, you can almost forgive them for claiming them to be safe, but now? How spellbound do you have to be to not see that the shots are utter failures and worth than useless?”

WA News Weekly Update