The Maine Legislature is considering a bill, L.D. 798, that would eliminate personal belief and religious exemptions to vaccines for all children attending public or private elementary or secondary school and for employees of nursery schools and health care facilities. The bill is expected to garner significant support from the now Democratic majority in the House and Senate and from Gov. Janet Mills.

It’s alarming that state representatives see nothing wrong with forcing someone to comply with a medical procedure. This type of coercion is found only in dictatorships and authoritarian governments. The undeniable truth is that vaccines are not without risk. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in the past ten years, more than $3.3 billion has been awarded for vaccine injuries and deaths.

We as parents know and love our children better than anyone else, and we are responsible for their well-being. In a free country we should be allowed to make rational, informed, and voluntary decisions about which diseases and which vaccines we are willing to risk our children’s lives for — without fearing punishment and coercion from the people we elected.

Donna Dodge

Denmark