Arkansas vaccination policies
Dear editor:
Over the past several years, childhood vaccination has become a topic of national debate, one that has also become of significant concern in Arkansas. Arkansas is one of 18 states that allows both religiously and philosophically (personal belief) based school vaccination exemptions. These nonmedical vaccination exemptions are dangerous to unvaccinated children, those who rely on herd immunity, and to the general public's health; for these reasons, nonmedical vaccination exemptions should be made illegal.
One of the initial concerns that sparked the debate on immunization was the allegation that vaccines can cause severe and undisclosed side effects, most notably autism. Vaccine safety concerns have been addressed, and the 2002 article "Vaccines and Autism" debunked, but there are still some who refrain from vaccinating themselves and their children. Additionally, there are very few religious theologies that explicitly discourage vaccination, and those that do generally practice faith healing in lieu of modern medical intervention. Some may argue that banning religious school vaccination exemptions would be unconstitutional, but past Supreme Court rulings have indicated otherwise. In the case Prince v. Massachusetts it was found that "the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death."
Vaccine-preventable illnesses are costly, painful, and sometimes deadly. I urge Arkansas to pass legislation against school vaccination exemptions, and to require all children be fully immunized before they are admitted into public or private schools.
Abby Bryan
Hot Springs
Itsy-bitsy shovel
Dear editor:
I am torn between headings for this letter. One could be, "Let's call a spade a spade and not an itsy- bitsy shovel." Or, "Sticks and stones may break my bones. ... "
It is difficult to respond to Mary in a meaningful way because we are not on the same wavelength to start with. She would rather refer to things of the past and not struggle with matters of the present. Heaven forbid that she should tangle with the future. In doing so, she inundates us with clichés and innuendoes and copied opinion pieces from ultraconservative writers.
Today Mr. Cherry thanks and praises Mary. Here is an added thrill: Watching as I am humiliated by rhetoric designed to inflame and denigrate. Being labeled a "Progressive Socialist Democrat" makes me shake in my boots and takes my appetite.
He says that "Even 72 percent of the people surveyed by NBC after the State of the Union Address agreed with the president."
This is the sort of comment that turns me off quickly. First, did these people agree with everything he said? We are a nation of sheep, it seems. But look more closely at what the NBC poll really surveyed. They polled those who watched the extravaganza -- not checking with those who just heard or read the president's words. Statistics seem to show that most of the people who watch this sort of political fake news are members of the president's party. So we are looking at a percentage (and the latest is 76 percent) of those who actually watched. Not quite so impressive as first reported by Mr. Cherry, which figure implied "of the general public" or some such. I am surprised and encouraged by the fact that some 24 percent of those who watched disagreed.
Let me call you to a higher purpose. Think about what this administration is doing about the environment. At the present rate, with his/their tearing down safeguards and ignoring the causes of climate change, while caving to fossil fuel interests, in 50 years your descendants will be fighting to find suitable places to live, clean water to drink and nontoxic air to breathe, while striving to swim against ocean currents. The itsy-bitsy shovel of our complacence wielded daily does as much damage as a deliberate steam shovel over time.
C.G. Smith
Hot Springs
Editorial on 02/14/2019