Letters: Halt to federal COVID funding to state threatens health of most vulnerable group (2025)

Regarding “CDC halts federal funding in California for COVID response, state health officials say” (Health, SFChronicle.com, March 26): What’s left for older folks and the immunocompromised now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have cut funding for COVID drugs, vaccines and testing, especially when the vaccine is only 45% effective and Paxlovid doesn’t reduce hospitalizations for us?

The pandemic may be over, but millions are still vulnerable — the CDC estimates that up to43,000 died of COVID last year in the U.S. — and a just society cares for its most vulnerable.

We did not have to be left behind just as new, truly protectivenasal vaccines are within our technological grasp.

This is also a matter of mutual protection — striving to keep everyone in our awareness makes it more likely that you, too, will be remembered in your eventual time of need.

Sanford Goldstein, San Francisco

Help for nurse shortage

Regarding “UC’s most competitive major has a 1% acceptance rate, and it’s not computer science” (College Admissions, SFChronicle.com, March 22): Nanette Asimov’s excellent reporting highlights a tragic irony: While California hospitals face a 40,000-nurse shortage, some of state colleges only accept 1% of nursing school applicants and turn away qualified students because of arbitrary bottlenecks.

The solution isn’t just more funding — it’s smarter policy, like AB1082, a common-sense bill with bipartisan support.

California already licenses graduates of distance education nursing programs, but the state Board of Registered Nursing requires these students to leave the state for clinical training even though programs like those at Nightingale College meet national accreditation standards.

AB1082 would allow students to remain in the state to complete the clinical portions of their education.

The state board’s resistance isn’t about safety; it’s about protecting a system that benefits entrenched interests while patients and health outcomes remain underserved.

Nearly all states allow clinical placements for distance learners with no drop in quality, and fewer nursing students leave to practice in the states that let them train. If we’re serious about solving this crisis, we must embrace innovation, not protect outdated barriers.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Olsen, president, Nightingale College, Salt Lake City

Guns are the problem

I am a 20-year-old college student who moved to the Bay Area from the United Kingdom when I was in middle school. I feel fortunate to have had the majority of my education in California.

However, one thing differs in the U.S. from schools back in my hometown: The looming threat of a school shooting.

I believe that the accessibility of semi-automatic guns to American civilians is a primary contributor to gun violence.

According to CNN, over the past 10 years, there have been at least 35 school shootings per year, with the only exception being 2020 due to pandemic school closures. There were 83 school shootings in 2024 and four in 2025 as of mid-February.

Throughout my high school experience, we had active shooter drills. This should not be the norm for students.

To me, it seems obvious to eliminate, or at least regulate, the root of the problem — guns.

We should look at how other countries deal with guns. For example, after 16 students were killed in a school shooting in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, the United Kingdom government banned handguns. There have been few mass shootings in the UK since.

Madison Reaich, Danville

S.F. still has it

When you move from San Francisco to the suburbs, it is easy to forget how fortunate we are to be near a city that oozes culture and coolness.

Recently, I visited the city for my mom’s 80th birthday and an evening at Club Fugazi.

The club’s“Dear San Francisco” show had it all: tip-top music with peak athleticism and costumes that embodied a retro industrial look. Everyone had fun.

Being at the show reminded me of all the things that I love about this city.

Justin McMahan, Burlingame