For Rand Paul, Republican candidate for president and a physician (ophthalmologist) to proudly declare that vaccinations should be voluntary is the height of irresponsibility.

If vaccines were only given to adults and would not affect the rest of the population (i.e., if a large group of unvaccinated people would NOT allow a disease like polio to gain a foothold again) he might... might have a point. Perhaps he is too young to remember thousands of children and adults crippled and unable to breathe outside an iron lung. I remember. I contracted polio at the age of 8, spent six weeks in bed unable to walk and nearly died from difficulty breathing before there were ventilators.

But for the most part, vaccinations are given in childhood and the parents, not the affected children, are responsible for the decision. The children, not the parents, will suffer from the diseases if left unvaccinated. And the vaccinated population will be at greater risk (no vaccine is 100 percent effective) since only when 95 percent or more of the population is vaccinated do we eliminate these dangerous viruses from the population. With the latest measles outbreak, even some of those who had been vaccinated became infected, though the illness is likely to be milder in those who have been vaccinated.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence of a connection between autism and childhood vaccination. The British Medical Journal article most often quoted by those who believe in the connection has been declared “an elaborate fraud” by the journal and the author has had his medical license taken away. An allergic reaction can be treated at the time of vaccination as can a febrile response.

For Dr. Paul to say, “I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines” is grossly irresponsible. I have heard of people who survived serious accidents while NOT wearing a seatbelt, but that doesn’t mean it is safe nor does it mean we should eliminate laws requiring their use.

To make childhood vaccinations a political issue is irresponsible for a politician and unethical, in my view, for a physician. Dr. Paul should pander to another group... maybe his “Who cares if Iran gets a nuclear weapon” crowd. Then instead of putting just our children at risk, he can put the whole world at risk! —P. David Myerowitz, Columbia Falls