Vaccine decision was recklessly fast
Thanks to Scott Maxwell for his passionate and rightfully angry column about the end of child vaccines for Florida’s schoolchildren — if our Legislature should be foolish enough to go along with this reckless scheme (“Take a look at the diseases Florida wants to bring back,” Sept. 5).
But put aside the consequences for the health and lives of schoolchildren. Insightful commentators like Maxwell, and of course the state and national medical community, will sound the alarm that what the governor has authorized opens the door to crippling and deadly diseases that had long been eradicated. Instead, I am asking readers to focus on the process by which the decision was made.
According to Gov. Ron DeSantis, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo had spoken to him about the end of vaccine mandates only the night before. “‘This is where I think we should shoot for, are you OK if I do it?,’ DeSantis recounted Ladapo saying,” according to the news article from the Sentinel.
Read that carefully: The governor signed off on this extremely impactful policy change in an evening phone call, less than 24 hours before the announcement.
Whether you are a fan of this governor or not, this is governing based on little more than gut feelings — no data, facts or science. Where are the memos to assess the pros and cons of this significant change in state policy?
It is apparent, if it was not before, that the health and safety of the people of Florida are in the hands of reckless amateurs.
Howard L. Simon Gainesville
Howard Simon served as executive director of the ACLU of Florida from 1997-2018.
Protect forests from road invasion
Our national forests provide clean drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife, beautiful places to hike and camp, and some of our nation’s last stands of old growth forest. Our community knows this firsthand because we’re lucky enough to live near the Ocala National Forest.
Right now, the Forest Service is trying to roll back protections for some of our best and last remaining forested areas by getting rid of the “Roadless Rule.” This Rule, created in 2001, restricted expensive roadbuilding in these last refuges for water and wildlife.
Is this what we need now — fewer protected forest areas? The Forest Service already manages a road system that is over seven times larger than the Interstate Highway System. Should taxpayers be on the hook to build more expensive roads that damage our water, wildlife and outdoors?
The Forest Service and our elected officials need to hear that building more roads is the wrong direction. Furthermore, we must let them know that trying to sneak this massive rule change through without public meetings is cowardly and wrong.
We have until Sept. 19 to tell the Forest Service what we think about this wrong-way plan. Our water, wildlife and health depend on it. To comment, go to Regulations.gov and search for “roadless area.”
Danielle Hipworth Orlando
Trump’s policies are popular
A recent letter to editor entitled “True conservatives are worried” (Sept. 10) certainly sounded more like Democratic talking points than the position of “true conservatives.” The writer took a small sample of friends she claimed were registered Republicans or independents and concluded their collective opinion speaks for all “true thoughtful conservatives.” Perhaps her sample size was too small. As of an August Gallup poll, Trump’s approval rating stands at 93% among Republicans. In addition, Trump has a national approval rating of 53% on his crime policies, according to an AP-NORC poll released Aug. 27. As a “true conservative” I count myself among the 93% who approve of Trump, and I have written and will continue to write letters to the editor on behalf of “true conservatives.”
Mark W. Needham Clermont
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.
