Vaccine lesson? Look to polio
The Florida surgeon general’s declaration that Florida will work to end vaccine mandates is the most absurd political decision to ever come out of Tallahassee. Has he forgotten the Hippocratic oath, to do no harm, or does that too “drip with disdain and slavery?” This decision doesn’t fall under good science or medicine; it comes under witchcraft and spell conjuring.
In the 1950s, before the feature film started in movie theaters, they would show a short film clip about people who had come down with polio and were condemned to spend the rest of their lives laying in a long tube-like contraction called an iron lung, in order to breathe. When the clip ended, ushers used to walk down the theater aisles with large cups, collecting change for the March of Dimes to help find a cure for polio.
In those days there were no vaccine mandates, with the possible exception of smallpox. As a result my generation got immunity the hard way. Along with the usual numerous colds and a couple of cases of influenza I had mumps, whooping cough, chickenpox and two types of measles during elementary school.
One of my first heroes was Dr. Jonas Salk for developing the polio vaccine. He didn’t patent it and make millions. He gave it to the world. Times sure have changed. Once again politics is triumphing over common sense and the Hippocratic oath. It is too bad we don’t have a Hippocratic oath for politicians to follow.
Bill Andrews Orlando
Vaccine decision is an epic nightmare
During a recent visit to Universal’s new Epic Universe, I immediately felt like I was dropped into another world where I was part of the “game,” a piece of Mario, Luigi, and Donkey Kong’s puzzle, and was, for a moment, a wizard in Harry Potter’s wizarding world. The fantasy was tremendously fun.
However, when I left the park, I found I was returned to another fantasy, a nightmare disguised as a twisted reality where truth is not believed no matter how compelling the facts. It seems we are in a world where some parents fantasize that they are “protecting” their children by refusing to have them vaccinated against diseases that have deadly consequences. Can a world where even Florida’s own surgeon general supports wiping out vaccine mandates be real?
Did the surgeon general not see reports of nonvaccinated patients on the verge of dying from the COVID-19 virus on their deathbed begging to be vaccinated; and that the COVID-19 vaccination altered the pandemic course?
I really want to go back to Epic Universe where the fantasy is fun and seems more real, it makes more sense than the “real” world we currently live in.
Gloria Groome Windermere
Parents must step up for disease prevention
Gaines County, Texas, had the measles outbreak this spring. Two children died. There are 21,600 people in Gaines County. The ratio of deaths is 0.0093%. That doesn’t sound like much but if you ratio this up to the population of Florida at 23.4 million, that is 2,166 dead people — many if not all of them children — per outbreak. Gov. DeSantis and Dr. Ladapo think personal freedom is more important than dead children. Parents, it is up to you to protect your children.
Ben Humphries Orange County
GOP ignores Christian teachings
In Bishop William R. Cavins’ letter “Keep fighting for human dignity” (Sept. 3), he makes an excellent and what should be a universal point:
“Let us remember that our advocacy is not rooted in politics alone, it is rooted in the sacred worth of every human being. We must continue to welcome the stranger, defend the vulnerable and challenge policies that treat people as problems rather than neighbors.”
This brought to mind two people: Donald Trump and Frances Perkins, Trump as the antithesis of what Jesus taught and Perkins, the implementer. Frances Perkins, Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor and the person responsible for our having Social Security, said: “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to facilitate the means by which all the people under its jurisdiction can access the best possible life.”
And excerpted from the book of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” So, what about our “Christian” Republican politicians who voted for Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that takes from “the least of these” and hands trillions of dollars to the ultra-wealthy? Here it is: “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I don’t understand why Republicans in Congress who claim to be Christians have difficulty with this command.
Richard Sutherland Winter Haven
You can submit a letter to the editor by sending it by email to insight@orlandosentinel.com or by filling out the form below. Letters are limited to less than 250 words and must be signed (no pseudonyms nor initials).You must include your email address, address with city and daytime phone number for verification. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and length.
