Letters to the Editor: Gavin Newsom’s indecisive leadership on SB 276 and vaccination

To the editor: Gavin Newsom’s flip-flopping on the bill to close a vaccine exemption loophole shows that, just like Los Angeles’ indecisive mayor, our governor can’t seem to figure out how to “lead” on any issue unless he first sticks a wet finger in the air to see which direction the political winds are blowing. Newsom’s behavior on Senate Bill 276 was not leadership.

Someone should tell them both to start leading on the important issues confronting them, do the jobs they were elected to do, and stop calculating what the impact might be on the next job they want.

Gordon J. Louttit, Manhattan Beach

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To the editor: Nowhere in this article do you mention that state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), the author of SB 276, is also a practicing pediatrician and has a master’s in public health from Harvard. He is advocating for our children’s safety.

Please listen. Please vaccinate.

Dodi Klein-Kennerly, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Reading the book “His Excellency: George Washington” by Joseph J. Ellis, a renowned historian, I was particularly interested in a passage about inoculation against smallpox. Washington survived smallpox and understood the ravages of this epidemic.

When the British left Boston in 1776, only troops with pockmarked faces could enter the city. Many educated Americans were against the vaccination for smallpox, believing it spread the disease. Still, Washington made the inoculation mandatory for his soldiers; it was the most important strategic decision of his military career.

Vaccination didn’t kill the soldiers; rather, it helped them to defeat the British. We should remember this.

Nicole Rousseau, Santa Monica

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To the editor: I am not an anti-vaxxer, but it strikes me that this bill is the state’s attempt to insert government bureaucrats into the relationship between doctors and their patients.

How is this different from the abortion debate? Beats me.

Barbara Beckley, Burbank