Dr. Robert Berke, county physician, posted a video on the Chautauqua County Health Department’s Facebook page encouraging people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

County physician Dr. Robert Berke has been a public health officer for several decades and on three different continents.

On Monday to encourage people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Berke posted a video on the Chautauqua County Health Department’s Facebook page titled “This is war.”

“The whole process has been one of the most frustrating in my whole career as a public health officer,” he said. “This has been the most exasperating year of my life watching all this going on.”

Berke said there is a lack of direction, “fumbling around” and misinformation on the internet that has led people to not receive the COVID-19 vaccine. He said the vaccination issue is not a political one and isn’t about the right to do whatever you want, but it’s a responsibility to do what is in the best interest of everyone.

“This is 100% personal responsibility,” he said. “The issue for us is we have to look out for one another. We are at war. And no one understands that. We are at war with an enemy that is amongst us and its killing us — 800,000 dead.”

Berke said the “enemy” is changing, which has led to several public health policy changes during the last 22 months.

“We’re losing a battle. We’re losing lives every day. For no reasons except we can’t get together and understand it’s war,” he said.

People getting sick with COVID-19 is still a possibility after receiving the vaccine, Burke said. However, he said everyone he sees in the hospital today in critical condition from the coronavirus are not vaccinated.

“No matter what vaccine we produce it’s not 100% successful. Big deal. It keeps you from dying. It keeps you from going into a hospital and being critically ill,” he said.

According to the state’s vaccine tracker, 77,087 people in the county to date have received at least one dose while 70,222 have completed their vaccine series.