Dear Editor,

As a concerned scientist, I’m addressing Governor Polis’s new-found stance on vaccination "freedom." Polis’s support for "freedom" from vaccination requirements totally misses the point of these programs. Which is not to force adults to personally protect themselves and their children. If it were, then "freedom" could make a sort of perverted sense. If some people want themselves or their children to be sickened or to die of horrible communicable diseases like measles, then that's up to them, we might admit.

The reason, though, for mandatory vaccinations is to protect the health and lives of those who -cannot- be vaccinated: Newborn babies; people with impaired immune systems; and the elderly. Ethically and morally, we as a people owe protection to those who are immunologically defenseless, via public vaccination policies.

When Polis says he wants to let people opt out of vaccination requirements, what he is really saying is: "For my part, babies, immuno-suppressed people, and the elderly can get sick and die. It’s their problem if their systems are weak."

Polis is running scared of Agent Orange and RFK Jr. His cowardly spinelessness is up to him. But the rest of us aren't collaborating with these creeps while the immunologically defenseless are sickened and killed by preventable disease outbreaks.

In case anyone has missed it, RFK Jr. has also stated that it’s time to get fluoridation out of America’s drinking water. Not based on any science, of course. But rather to maintain our Purity of Essence as featured in Dr. Strangelove. So, will our Governor also support termination of water fluoridation? If he’s going to be consistent, he should do that. It's time to run with the cult, Governor! Communicable diseases and rotten teeth for all!

Frank Sanders

Tungsten Valley