Anti-vaxxer pipeline

To the Editor:

Anti-vaxxers put us all at risk. Facebook and Twitter must ban them.

Millions of Americans follow right-wing social forums and right-wing media into a “black hole of misinformation.” The problem is they “choose” to be told what to think instead of thinking for themselves. This will not stop until deliberate lies and distortions are regulated. An example is the anti-vaccine pipeline.

I experienced my first stabs of empathy in kindergarten at Hoover Elementary School in Redwood

City. The kids with polio stood on their crutches to watch us play during recess. One of them caught my eye because he looked so sad because he couldn't join us. I was deeply moved by this and have never forgotten it,

The polio epidemic left tens of thousands with paralyzed limbs, such as former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many of the severely stricken were enslaved by an iron lung. Dr. Jonas Salk came to our rescue. His polio vaccine eradicated this horrific disease.

I was a victim of the spreading measles epidemic in the 1950s. The measles vaccine had eradicated it until recently. Measles infections have begun to spread again recently because of anti-vaxxers.

We gratefully received several mandatory vaccinations in elementary schools in the 1950s, including smallpox, diphtheria, measles, polio, tuberculosis, and others.

Mississippi health experts recently said there are 73,000 vaccine slots open but few takers. The state reliably votes Republican, a group that remains highly skeptical of vaccinations.

Robert Dorroh

Sonora