Vaccination is both a moral and a medical issue

sir – Reading the report on child vaccinations (November 2), I remembered growing up in the Forties and Fifties, and seeing children my age suffering from tuberculosis, diphtheria and even poliomyelitis, which left them confined to a wheelchair for life.

Immunisation has vastly reduced, and in some cases eliminated, diseases that historically killed millions.

Parents who deny scientific proof such as this should realise the potential harm that they are inflicting on the rest of the population by allowing their offspring to become carriers of disease. This is a moral as well as a medical issue. M J Shucksmith

Fordingbridge, Hampshire

sir – I am not a homeopath but, over the years, I have benefited from homeopathic medicines and I try not to compromise my immune system with antibiotics, injections or drugs pushed by unscrupulous companies to line their pockets. I am, however, well aware there is also a strong scientific argument for modern medicines, and that they save millions of lives.

I believe that there are two sides to the story, and a place for both homeopathy and modern medicine. People should do their research and be free to make up their own minds. Paddy Bailey

Machynlleth, Powys

sir – I grew up in a family that only used homeopathic remedies, so I know very well how believers in this kind of medicine can be blinded by fervour and unable to listen to alternative points of view.

I would never say that homeopathy is without its uses (it is excellent for conditions such as asthma and many skin complaints, and can be beneficial for animals), but its followers have always claimed that it is capable of treating far more serious conditions than it is.

Today, there is the same dogmatic assertion that something now in the mainstream and proven, such as the inoculation of children against disease, is dangerous. It seems that, more than 70 years later, attitudes have not changed. Elizabeth Pridmore

Eastbourne, East Sussex