On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump officially announced the public-private partnership of Operation Warp Speed. Its goal was to coordinate Health and Human Services-wide efforts, toward vaccine and diagnostic development.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30, 2020, that a vaccine would need to be at least 50% effective for diminishing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms to obtain regulatory and marketing approval. As of January 2021, doses of vaccine were being distributed.

It is beyond curious that the writers of “Dedicated Public Servants and Bad Medicine” (Nov. 16) failed to reference the above, neglecting to applaud Trump for the monumental success of his Operation Warp Speed, in collaboration with dedicated public servants and private firms.

The writers refer to our “dedicated public servants” dismissively, and with dripping sarcasm, seeming to deny that a dedicated public servant might even exist.

I regularly rely on dedicated experts: doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians: anyone with “know-how” attained through study and practice. I’m not embarrassed (or resentful) that the experts know more than I know. There are standards throughout professions to determine and recognize competence.

People devote their lives and careers to developing competence. They study, take tests, and are judged accordingly. They don’t rely on their “common sense,” which is different from critical thinking. It’s hard to watch out for fallacies, to gather facts, to distinguish facts from opinions. It’s hard to find sources to trust (hint: don’t bother looking on social media). The scientific method is an actual thing. It’s much harder than skimming conspiracy blogs.

It’s obvious that charlatans do exist in our midst distorting the facts, especially with money involved. The commentary writers want you to believe that charlatans are the rule, not the exception. Theirs is the worldview of angry cynics, (sometimes a tempting posture to take). Still, if we distrust experts, and mistrust every motive, we’ll find ourselves back in a cave, trying to figure out fire and wheels. Similarly, we won’t learn from history if we don’t study it now.

The dedicated public servants who worked on COVID-19 had more than a clue about what was at stake: basically, life and death were at stake. There is no rational reason to distrust all their motives – telling us the hard news and making hard choices, in real time, as a truly “novel” virus took hold, wasn’t a walk in the park.

If errors were made on the side of caution, by scientists or politicians, isn’t it best to learn from mistakes and move forward? Forgiveness is a virtue and pathway to peace. And hindsight is 20-20.

In America we are free to protect the health and safety of our fellow citizens. If Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is confirmed as Director of HHS, I join with the commentary writers in wishing him luck.

Gail Crowe is a Fredonia resident.