Please raise whatever bar you have for letters that get published in your paper a lot higher so letters like Heather Connolly’s objection to L.D. 798, the vaccine law (April 5), ends up on the reject pile. Connolly claims that “more than 10,000 Maine children will be left without any access to ‘public’ education (including remote learning)” if the law passes. Where did she get this statistic? And why did you publish this letter without a source?
Connolly also makes a big deal about Maine being only one of five states that does not have a religious exemption for school immunization requirements. I guess because 45 states think a different way, I’m supposed to automatically think they’re right.
I look forward to herd immunity in our country, not herd thinking.
Finally, Connolly doesn’t raise any objections to her thinking. Take for example, how will public health be affected if her purportedly 10,0000 anti-vaccine students attend school. How many thousands of healthy children and adults will these kids infect? According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, national increases in pertussis and measles outbreaks are directly connected to anti-vaccine parents not vaccinating their kids. And guess what, disease outbreaks cost society enormous amounts of money, both in terms of health care costs and productivity. Duh.
So please raise your bar a little higher – enough so that people like the letter writer you published don’t run into it with their head.
Gregory Greenleaf
Harpswell
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