.Letter: ‘You cannot have vaccination that works, yet doesn’t work …’

What, you got nothing to say about Kolker’s baseball poem that week?

The grotesque level of bigotry, backed up by the lack of any comprehension of immunology, toxicology and the vitalistic paradigm of Chiropractic, is astounding. Then there is the lack of basic reading comprehension. Then there’s the lack of just being brought up properly, between the nastiness and the lack of respect. In decent society, chiropractors are referred to as “Dr.” (Or do we not deserve that title because we don’t kill anyone?)

Mr. Gardin, you say that smallpox was wiped out by vaccination [“We’re Hoping They Rolf Ebola to Eradication,” Feb. 20]. What about scarlet fever, typhoid, the polio epidemic in the 1920s and the Black Plague? Infectious diseases have their cycles, including measles. The great infectious diseases of previous centuries were not defeated by modern medicine. They were defeated, for the most part, by modern sanitation, refrigeration, etc.

Ms. Silverstein, I criticized the false concept of “herd immunity” [Suffer the Little Children, and Forbid Them Not Their Vaccinations,” Feb. 20]. You cannot have vaccination that works, yet doesn’t work, because there are those who are not vaccinated. I made no mention of “herd mentality,” though you may offer up a fair example of such. I never insulted parents who choose to vaccinate. While I am against vaccination, I have not made a case for prohibiting such, while you and many others want to force people to vaccinate their children “for the greater good.” That’s called tyranny.

Ah, now we come to Mr. Minikes [“Be Careful or You’ll Ruin the Credibility of Chiropractic,” Feb. 20], who fancies himself a scientist, and claims that he is upset that I used the term “medical Nazis,” that I use the term “Nazi” too casually. Well, Mr. Minikes, I, too, am Jewish, so I do not use that term “Nazi” lightly. When a ruling class co-opts medicine (both Hitler and Stalin did it “for the greater good”), and forces medical procedures on people, even healthy people, against their will, that is a despicable thing. We are seeing such a thing now, as our “enlightened” state legislature is formulating a bill to eliminate the personal belief vaccination exemption. The now everyday practice in medicine of “informed consent” came about from what was heard during the post-World War II Nuremberg trials. Informed consent is not done with mandatory vaccinations.

Mr. Minikes makes mention of Jon Stewart’s now-famous goofing on Marin. Frankly, I don’t find this sort of hatred funny, nor do I find the Marin “sticking-your-nose-in-everyone’s-business-because-I’m-more-progressive-than-you” attitude funny. What is wrong with parental choice in vaccination? And how can you know more if you are willing to follow the doctor off the cliff with your children and, maybe, trade measles for autism or leukemia or Type I diabetes? Minikes says that I was doing a “sales job” because I mentioned Chiropractic. Really? Have you ever considered how much medicine, in general, and vaccines, in particular, are sold? In how many places? Maybe, soon, you can get your vaccinations at the take-out window at Jack-in-the-Box. But, please, “ask your doctor” if autism is right for your child.
Speaking of real Nazis, there’s the next letter [“Sure, But Then How Would the Incumbents Get Re-elected?” Feb. 20], accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of “warmongering.” Really? Is it warmongering to want to survive? I wonder if the writer of this disgusting letter has an SS uniform in his closet. Red shirt … Brown shirt … same totalitarian garbage! As a Jew, no one’s going to herd me into a cattle car. And as a chiropractor, no one will silence me, or, in any way, make me ride in the back of the bus. Get some decency and some common sense, Marin!

Meanwhile, I continue to “sell” natural health, to help as many people as I can get as healthy as they can. As they say in my native New York, “You got a problem with that?”

Don Harte, Corte Madera