As I await the birth of my second child any day now, I couldn’t disagree more strongly with Katherine Paul’s op-ed “Maine Voices: Proposal to require vaccine ‘counseling’ a slap in the face of parents” (Feb. 3).
The bottom line is, when another parent decides not to vaccinate their child, it puts my child at risk as well as everyone else’s. The exercise of their choice denies my right to give my child the healthiest start possible.
My newborn daughter won’t be able to be fully vaccinated against measles and other serious illnesses until she’s old enough. In the meantime, for her first months of life, she can only be protected by the immunity from the rest of us having gotten vaccinated so that dangerous illnesses are no longer present in her environment.
As a parent, I appreciate being able to make the choices that I feel are best for my family. But living in a healthy society sometimes means limiting an individual choice when it may harm others. Like drinking and driving or smoking in a restaurant, I think whether to vaccinate our children is one of them.
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