Making excuses for anti- vaxxers

Re: “My sister, the anti- vaxxer” ( Opinion, Feb. 6)

Julie Anne Pattee provides an undeserved patina to her sister, making her look thoughtful, caring and strong in her decision to not vaccinate her child. There is nothing thoughtful in this attitude. Seeing a flat horizon does not mean that the world is flat.

Every doctor wants parents to vaccinate their kids, for their health and the health of their families and neighbours. Adverse reactions are practically nonexistent.

It is not enough, nor practical, that parents cocoon the kids so that they cannot catch any preventable serious disease. Living in a social setting demands that all kids be vaccinated, for the common good.

Governments, as guardians of our collective and individual well- being, need to step in, first, to require the normal childhood vaccinations, and second, to appoint courts to be legal guardians for children where parents fail to properly protect them from preventable diseases.

We just cannot have illinformed parents jeopardize the health of their kids and of everyone around them. Measles provide a real risk of death, and there are other almost- eradicated diseases waiting to make their appearance among the unvaccinated.

As to all the wondrous things Pattee’s sister does in rejecting the modern world, she should think about the medical advances in the last 100 years. These past generations have done scientifically wondrous things ( although sometimes with horrendous errors), like eradicating many diseases and expanding our lifespan from 59 years on average in 1920 to 80 today.

Infant mortality has been reduced from 100 per 1,000 births to five per 1,000 today, mainly due to immunization. We can only hope that gen X can achieve as much, without enabling the return of historic killer diseases.

Henno Lattik, Montreal