The pharmaceutical companies have a confirmed history of putting profits before patients, sometimes causing injury or death. But the government simply tells us what the pharmaceutical lobbyists tell them to say. (Remember Rick Perry’s HPV vaccine mandate?) And doctors simply can’t know whether drugs are safe; the pharmaceutical industry heavily influences what is taught in medical schools, and doctors get much of their information about drugs from the sales reps.

And now politicians, the same people who disregard science when it is inconvenient (global warming, anyone?), are threatening to force parents to inject pharmaceuticals into their children, regardless of whether those parents think the benefits outweigh the risks.

I support many, certainly not all, vaccines, but any parent would be downright irresponsible if he trusted the government to determine what’s best for his child.

My own child has a dangerously compromised immune system; many common viruses are life-threatening for her. Nevertheless, I oppose forcing other parents to vaccinate their children in order to protect mine. It is my responsibility to protect my child, not the government’s, and if doing so requires trampling over other parents’ autonomy to protect their own, I’ll have to come up with another way.

Kim Wilson

Wake Forest