To the editor,
I will be voting no on Question 1 on March 3.
This is a public health issue and not a “Big Pharma” one. We have been on the verge of eliminating diseases such as polio, measles, mumps and diphtheria with childhood vaccinations. Yet Maine now has the highest rate of pertussis outbreaks in the country and has the fourth highest opt-out rate.
I trained in a hospital that still had iron lungs for young polio victims and overseas childhood diseases still kill many. The recently enacted vaccination law attempts to correct the marked drop in the vaccination rate that threatens all of us, but particularly our children. It does not eliminate medical exemptions and should remain in place.
I urge everyone to vote no on Question 1.
Ted Sussman, MD, MACP
Houlton
