Your recent editorial regarding vaccinations is misleading. It is entitled “Education, not force, is the key for vaccinations,” but the substance of the article is not educational. Instead it represents nonanalytical thinking, the opposite of what education is meant to develop.

I am a retired physician who is certified in internal medicine and endocrinology. I am not certified in infectious diseases or public health. Therefore, I cannot refute all the misstatements and biases I believe are contained in the editorial. However I am sufficiently educated to clarify two misleading examples.

Whooping cough, or pertussis was a potentially fatal illness especially in childhood. A vaccine was developed to prevent it. However, in recent years physicians observed whooping cough develop in adults, many of whom had been immunized as children. As a result we learned that childhood immunization against pertussis does not provide adequate protection into adulthood. Hence the “recent epidemic.” In recent years we have begun re immunizing adults along with diphtheria and tetanus every 10 years to prevent further outbreaks.

As regards the shingles vaccine which for several years now has been recommended for adults beginning at age 60. Yes, it prevents shingles in “only 50 percent” of the recipients, but the worst thing about shingles is the pain it causes that can persist for months if not the rest of a person’s life. The shingles vaccination reduces the severity and duration of this pain by at least 50 percent. So the people who still get shingles after the vaccination nevertheless derive significant benefit.

These facts about which the writer of this editorial was not educated are important. Without them a reader might be persuaded that neither the whooping cough or the shingles vaccine are worthwhile. The editorial is slanted against vaccinations for these illnesses. This letter is meant to educate the editorial writer and the readership.

I agree with the editorial writer that education (and critical thinking) is of utmost importance.

Dr. Daniel H. Wood
Woolwich