Re: “Our View: Lawmakers right to tweak Maine’s vaccine law” (March 12):
Requiring children to be vaccinated in order to attend school serves two purposes (other than protecting the vaccinated child).
Students and staff at the school have a higher degree of protection, with the higher rate of vaccination adding to the “herd immunity.” The other purpose is to increase the vaccination rate and strengthen the herd immunity out of school, among the general public.
Students spend the majority of their lives out of school, interacting with people of all ages and medical conditions. With online learning, there is no physical school or contact with other students, but these children still have contact with the outside world. If not vaccinated, they put other people at risk for community-acquired infections, and the outside world has more people with compromised immune systems than these students will contact in school.
Supporters of L.D. 2046, which would exempt virtual charter schools from the vaccine requirement, also want an exemption for private schools. If the unvaccinated student is attending a private school that is not online, they also threaten the students and staff in those schools. Neither exemption to the original law should be approved.
Daniel Krell, M.D.
Westbrook
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