Letters to the Editor: There’s a bit of irony in Florida’s explanation for ending vaccine mandates
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To the editor: Florida’s state Health Department intends to eliminate all vaccine mandates for kids, saying the move will boost parental rights in medical decisions for their kids (“Florida moves to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates,” Sept. 3). Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said, “We’re … getting government out of your lives.”
And yet, in 2023, the state passed a law banning gender-affirming care for minors. So much for getting the government out of our personal lives.
Kathy Harty, Sierra Madre
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To the editor: My parents didn’t believe in vaccines and I was always excused from vaccinations at school. Seeing photos of little kids in iron lungs and walking with leg braces made me realize I really wouldn’t want to get polio, so I got my own vaccine (a sugar cube in a paper cup) when I was 16.
Hearing Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s ridiculous diatribe — “immoral,” “slavery,” “they don’t have the right to tell you what to put into your body” — made me think that maybe, he should have a slogan: “Hands off my body.” Oh wait, that is already used by abortion rights activists. Unlike vaccines, an abortion affects only the person who is getting it, not her classmates, community or general population.
Kathy Hicker, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Why doesn’t Florida also outlaw its vaccine requirements for pets?
The sad part is, I can imagine more outrage if those vaccine requirements were lifted than what the Florida surgeon general is doing now to humans.
Tom Friel, Camarillo
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To the editor: Ladapo’s claim that vaccine mandates are akin to “slavery” is why museums and schools must continue to teach what slavery was.
Of course, the measles vaccine is dangerous — if you’re a strain of measles.
Gary Davis, Los Angeles
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To the editor: When a child dies in Florida from a preventable illness because they didn’t get vaccinated, I’m sure Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ladapo and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will take immediate action by “offering our heartfelt prayers for the family.”
Rex Altman, Los Angeles
