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Letter: With any pharmaceutical there is a risk and there should always be a choice 

letter to the editor

To the editor, in response to a letter from a high school student,

Thank you for your response to my letter and please allow me the same courtesy. I too was at the rally which took place in Mitchell Park. The park is where we were directed to leave by the SLOPD. I made no claim that we were prohibited from marching.

You state the message we “were trying to convey was one built on faulty claims and shaky scientific evidence.” I am curious which message you believe that applies to? Are you referring specifically to the sign reading, “More babies die on their first day of life in the United States than in any other industrialized nation?”

Or perhaps to this one, “A child with Hep B retains the right to go to school anonymously. A child without the Hep B vaccine is denied the right to attend school?”

Maybe you were responding to this one, “Hep B is spread through unprotected sex and contaminated needles – so why are 3 doses of Hep B required to attend preschool?”

Did you read our signs? Or are you just presuming to know what our messages were? The broader your claim the thinner it’s coverage. In the future be more specific in your debate.

You boldly proclaim, “To disbelieve in vaccines is to disbelieve in science.” Again I ask you, are you presuming to know what I believe? Please allow me to speak for myself. I believe in an open dialog about vaccine safety. I believe in the freedom of speech. I believe in bodily autonomy – that with any pharmaceutical there is a risk and there should always be a choice.

I also believe that patients have an inalienable right to informed consent and that doctors should not be threatened with investigations, fines or loss of their license should they write a medical exemption for a child who has experienced an adverse vaccine reaction that was recognized by the FDA but not the CDC.

And I vehemently believe that the Health and Human Services should be held accountable for their complete and utter failure to submit biennial reports to Congress detailing improvements in vaccine safety, a responsibility transferred solely to the HHS by the US Congress, as part of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. https://www.icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Stipulated-Order-copy-1.pdf.

A responsibility to, “promote the development of childhood vaccines that result in fewer and less serious adverse reactions than those vaccines on the market… and research on vaccines, in order to reduce the risks of adverse reactions to vaccines.”

As a science student, you should be well aware that asking questions is essential to the scientific process. To disallow the questioning and reexamination of popular, closely held beliefs is to stifle the progress of science. Advocating for the suppression of views that differ from your own is dangerous to the pursuit of truth.

Respectfully,

Sara Semmes
Atascadero


Editor’s note: Letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit, click here. 

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