Letter: Kupchick's Support Of Gale For RTM Not Good For Fairfield

Dear editor,

Hannah Gale is running as an RTM incumbent in District 6 during a tight election year that may determine control of the RTM. She has a long history of speaking out against vaccines. First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick has posted numerous ads on social media supporting Hannah's re-election. As a pediatric health care provider, I am concerned about Ms. Kupchick's behavior. With hope of gaining a much longed-for majority on the RTM, she fails to consider the health of Fairfield residents should her ardent support of Hannah's anti-vaccine platform gain even more traction in this pandemic.

The point both Hannah and Brenda are missing is how tenuous the current state of health Fairfield enjoys actually is. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to produce new and greater variants, the spread of medical misinformation that promotes vaccine hesitancy thwarts all attempts to reach the goal of herd immunity, which would truly get us all back to normal. Scientifically, increasing vaccination rates is the only way for Fairfield to achieve this, and Ms. Kupchick's own weekly updates indicate that she is well aware of this.

Why then, did Brenda abruptly break a mask mandate agreement she made with Easton and Westport to help curb the spread of the delta variant, despite data that showed that Fairfield's case rates were not low enough to remove masks? As expected, our weekly case rates of delta more than doubled in the period after she pulled out. Easton and Westport's case rates decreased in that same time period, as they continued masking.

As the approval of a long-awaited safe and effective childhood vaccine finally arrives for the youngest members of our community, I would hope that those in positions of political power would support the administration of a vaccine that affords children their first protection against COVID-19 and moves Fairfield in the direction of "herd."

Brenda and Hannah are clearly not those individuals. We need leadership that puts the health of Fairfield citizens first.

Colleen Sullivan, RN, MSN, CPNP

Fairfield