Readers React: Vaccine skeptics are in denial

To the editor: My child is a student at Waldorf School of Orange County, and it’s unbelievable that 41% of kindergartners started the school year unvaccinated. Just recently a Waldorf parent told me that no one is talking about the measles epidemic — not one conversation. (“Once easily recognized, signs of measles now elude young doctors,” Jan. 26)

Maybe as a society we value a dog’s life more than a human life.

All dogs in California that are 4 months or older are legally required to be vaccinated for rabies. A law enacted in 2011 allows an exemption for the rabies shot if the dog has existing medical conditions that would further deteriorate its health but requires that the animal be confined to the owner’s home or be kept on a short leash when away from home.

In contrast, a parent of a human child may sign a paper claiming a belief exemption from all vaccinations. Wow.

Gina Piazza, Costa Mesa

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To the editor: I do not dispute the value of vaccines, and all my children were inoculated on schedule. However, I sympathize with the so-called deniers.

For generations, many members of the medical establishment have over-promised their ability to prevent and cure disease, told us to take medications that were later determined to have terrible side effects, and more recently failed to protect us from extortionary medical billing practices by their hospitals and insurance companies.

It is both rational and reasonable for some people to no longer trust their doctors.

Rather than ridiculing them, members of the medical community should ask first: What part do we have in this? Once they answer that question, they can begin to rebuild the public’s faith in them.

David Fleck, Granada Hills

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To the editor: Well-meaning but misguided parents must realize that measles shots are not lethal injections.

Quite the opposite: Failure to protect their (and other people’s) children is a rash decision that could sicken, disable or even kill innocents.

Chris Ungar, Los Osos, Calif.

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