Readers React: Anti-vax parents, it’s simple: no shots, no school

To the editor: I completely agree with your editorial. No unvaccinated child should be allowed in public school just because his or her parents don’t believe in vaccination. (“California lawmakers should pass the vaccination bill,” editorial, April 19)

The people who resist vaccinating their children seem to be mostly affluent, educated people. I’ll bet that they believe in evolution and global warming. Surely they don’t think the Earth is flat.

As the editorial notes, state Sen. Carol Liu says that children who go unvaccinated will have to be home schooled or taken out of public school. No — their parents will just have to vaccinate them. It is unconscionable that parents may not only put their own children in danger but also children who cannot be vaccinated for valid medical reasons.

If a state such as Mississippi can deny personal or religious objections, why can’t California?

Julie May, Los Angeles

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To the editor: When did the current opt-out laws for vaccination come into effect?

I ask because in the 1960s, not only did my mother have to show that my brothers and I had all of our shots before we could enroll in kindergarten, but the necessary booster shots were actually administered at school (in my case, it was Grandview Elementary in Valinda, Calif.).

Because of that, I have never personally known anybody who has had measles, whooping cough, mumps or any of the other diseases we were vaccinated for. I also don’t personally know anybody who had any long-term health damage from the inoculations.

I did have an allergic reaction to a measles vaccine, however, which was administered at school. But that was just a fever and swelling of the arm where the vaccine was injected, and it only lasted a week.

Dan Zogaib, Orange

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