I have just returned from exercising my absentee ballot for the upcoming primary in Maine. Voting for the candidates was simple enough. The ballot question concerning vaccinations for Maine children seems deliberately misleading. I cannot understand how such confusing wording was allowed on a ballot.
I am a physician specializing in neurology. I have seen the suffering of polio, and measles, even tetanus. Fortunately, I have not yet seen smallpox, but if people refuse to vaccinate healthy children, we surely will see a return of this, too.
As a mother, I do not want my children and grandchildren put in harm’s way due to some misguided religious zealots. The Bible does not forbid medical treatment or disease prevention. Vaccination is medical, not spiritual or political.
I think the newspaper has a responsibility to make sure people understand what a “yes” or “no” vote means on the vaccination ballot question. I strongly support vaccinating healthy children. If you share this belief, make sure you are not fooled by a badly worded question.
Why return to the dark ages where preventable diseases ravage our population? Why waste taxpayer dollars treating conditions we could have simply avoided by vaccinating our children?
Sandra Horowitz, M.D., FRCP(C), FAAN, FAASM
Phippsburg
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