I am old enough that I can remember the kids in my class who had to use crutches because they had had polio. And the kids who ended up on iron lungs. And I remember having German measles (Rubella) and it was miserable. In 1989, I had to do CPR on a one-month old baby who stopped breathing when she had whooping cough (pertussis). And, shortly after starting practice in Farmington in 1992, I had to watch as another infant that I had delivered suffered a debilitating stroke as a complication of bacterial meningitis. All of these events are now preventable through very safe vaccination and fortunately pediatricians rarely see them now.
And most people want to have their children vaccinated to protect them. The problem is that “most” isn’t good enough. To make these diseases disappear, we need to have near 95 percent of the school aged population vaccinated. That is the only way to protect our most vulnerable citizens (who cannot get the vaccine because they are too young, have cancer, or are immune compromised ) and to keep these sometimes deadly infections from roaring back as we saw with the measles outbreak last year.
That is why I will get out and vote on March 3 and I will vote NO on Question 1. It’s an urgent public health question. And it is essential to keep our babies and our children safe.
Connie Adler, MD
Chesterville
I’m glad this is going to a vote because the people of Maine should have the final say in how much control we allow the government to have over our lives, which is at issue here and we would do well to remember that.
I’m also glad Daily Bulldog has moderators. This same debate has turned into vicious personal attacks on other forums.
Even though I’m old now, I can still remember the days when I was young and healthy. I could run fast, and I could run all day. I had a great love for fishing, hiking, and hunting, and I frequently enjoyed those activities. Then came the fateful days of late 1983 and early 1984, when I was one of the first people in the nation to receive the 3-dose Hepatitis B vaccine. Immediately thereafter, my life was turned upside down. At first, it seemed like I just couldn’t get out of my own way. I was constantly tired, never able to regenerate energy, even after sleeping and resting. I struggled through daily life, trying to work and raise a family, but I just became worse and worse. I eventually was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, and my doctors told me that there was nothing that could be done to help me. I worked 3 days per week, and I spent 4 days per week in bed. On most days I felt like I was going to just drop dead. The past 36 years have been for me at best a living purgatory, but most of those 36 years have been a living hell. In 1998 I had a seizure, which caused my chronic fatigue syndrome to be magnified by a factor of about 10. I had to give up my dental practice at the age of 39, and then had to live on disability. My wife had to get a job, even though she was home schooling, and was doing 95% of the parenting for our 5 sons. I missed out on my sons’ childhoods. At one point, I spent 15 years doing little more than getting out of bed only to eat, to go to the bathroom, and to go to church on Sundays. In 2011, I learned some new information, and I started a process to detoxify my body. I noticed positive changes immediately. By 2013, I was able start getting out of bed somewhat, and I even began to work on a very limited basis. I have slowly improved to the point to where, since late 2019, I have been able to feel the best that I have felt in about 25 years. I still have a long way to go, but I can at least live somewhat of a life now.
Folks, the reality is that vaccines are toxins. The scientific mode of action of vaccines is that they induce the human body to produce antibodies, in reaction to the injected toxins. Toxins are what make vaccines “work.” I firmly believe that I was poisoned by the Hep B vaccine. My health deteriorated immediately after I received it, and then my health started improving immediately after I started to detoxify my body.
Human bodies are not all the same, so therefore, different humans react in different ways to the same toxins. Some people seem to be able to tolerate vaccines, while others don’t. The fact that the Federal government has paid out over $4 billion in compensation to victims of vaccine injury is ample proof that vaccines can be dangerous. And there are likely many, many more vaccine victims like myself who have not been beneficiaries of the government settlements.
I am very strongly in favor of a “Yes on 1” vote. Parents, not the government, should have every right to decide what is medically best for their children. My wife and I said our prayers and we let our sons be vaccinated with polio, MMR, and DPT, but we held the line at that point. One of our sons had to have 3 more vaccinations at the age of 20, due to a graduate school requirement. He also was injured by those vaccinations, and it took him a year to recover. Thankfully, he actually did recover. I have a friend whose son was vaccine-injured as an infant, and that young man has never recovered.
Life is fragile, and we all risk sickness, injury and death just from the fact of being alive in a health-hostile world. We all have risks in life, whether we are vaccinated or not. Since it is known that vaccines are toxic, I personally would rather not take that risk of being vaccinated again. I support 110% any parents who are leery of forcing that risk upon their children. And vaccines aren’t even close to being guaranteed to work, anyway. Large numbers of victims of contagious diseases, both children and adults, have been already vaccinated to begin with. Non-vaccinated children pose no more threat to others than do those children who have been vaccinated. Vaccinated or not, we are all still at risk for certain diseases. I ask people to please vote
“Yes on 1,” for the sake of risk management, for child and parental rights, and for personal freedom.
What a bunch of dribble. Get your kids vaccinated.
The law that was passed by the Maine State Legislature does not take away a parent’s right to chose what is right for their children. It does say what the state will allow. If you chose to not have your children vaccinated for philosophical or religious reasons, then your children are not allowed to be enrolled in public schools. You have the option to home school or find an alternative school that allows non- vaccinated children. This law was written to protect the masses. If your children are unfortunate enough to have a medical condition that prevents them from having vaccines, then you can get a waiver from vaccinating your children.
Our government makes rules and laws to protect the masses all the time, speed limits, mandatory seat belts and car seats, children wearing bike helmets, etc. this law is no different, except you can opt out as long as your children do not attend public schools.
Make your own choice and allow the children at public schools to be safe. I am voting NO on 1.
No to whooping cough, measles, mumps, polio, meningitis, and the like. No on 1.
2cents, very enlightening.
TJ, facts. Thank you.
Dr. Martin, I’m sorry for your plight. Thank you for sharing your personal experience.
I will ask this question again because it wasn’t answered in the last op-ed. If vaccines protect us why are the non vaccinated kids putting my kids (that are vaccinated btw) at risk ? TJ yes laws are made to protect the masses that doesn’t mean that they are always good ideas. ie seatbelt, kids wearing helmets. I’m 40 yrs old and not once did I need a helmet riding a bike nor do I need a state law maker worrying about me wearing a seatbelt while driving. Not to mention the one our President got rid of forcing me to buy unconstitutional healthcare.
@ Awww, in the last op-ed it was stated that in order for the vaccine to work ( can’t remember the exact number ) 90 or 95% MUST be vaccinated. It didn’t explain why.
I was unable to find that past article to quote but that is what I remember ( I looked after you asked then ).
Found it.
https://dailybulldog.com/opinion/in-support-of-vaccination-and-ld-798/
” For instance, 90-95 percent of a population must be immunized against measles in order to keep outbreaks from occurring. ”
It does not cite where Dr. Whitt gets this information though.
Thanks Billy I was playing devil’s advocate as in the last article. It’s the same old same old with these people. I also asked when these diseases started flaring up again. My guess is when we started letting anyone across the border that wanted to come. We (United States) had these diseases nearly obliterated in recent history and since the “border crisis” we have been hearing how we must vaccinate to protect our children. How about the people coming here are vetted and vaccinated like my great grandparents were when they landed on Ellis Island ? The recent batch in Portland brought chicken pox with them and when I emailed the mayor down there he lied to me and said they were being quarantined and vaccinated. Not two weeks after showing up they started disappearing from the housing. That is not a quarantine and I highly doubt there was any vaccinations happening. And now we see in other news articles the same people screaming about vaccines want 300-500 of these folks dumped on Franklin county. With no answer on how to house or feed or afford to vaccinate.
So, please someone correct me if I am wrong. I immunized my children, you did not. Who has to worry? The immunized should be all set.
According to those who favor vaccines, the immunized SHOULD be all set, but vaccines are not all that they are cracked up to be. Usually in a disease outbreak, most of the people who catch the disease have already been vaccinated. That makes sense in a way, because most people have already been vaccinated in the first place. But the fact that most of them have been vaccinated should proclaim loudly that vaccines don’t necessarily work in the first place. You get those toxins put into your body, and they may not even help you at all, but they do expose you to vaccine injury risk.
Many people are quick to blame then non-vaccinated for disease outbreaks, but many outbreaks start with vaccinated people. The California pertussis outbreak of 8 or so years ago occurred almost exclusively among vaccinated kids.
One of my sisters lives in Southern Maine. A few years ago, there was a chicken pox outbreak at the middle school that my 2 nieces attended. My nieces and some other kids had not been vaccinated, and the school forced them to stay home. The outbreak lasted 8 weeks, as the kids in school kept passing it around to each other. In that outbreak, the only kids who came down with the chicken pox were kids who had been vaccinated. Of the non-vaccinated kids, not a single one came down with it.
Vaccines can cause injury, and they don’t always work as they are supposed to. Vote “Yes on 1” so that parents have the right to choose what they think is medically best for their kids.
Here is an article that explains herd immunity:https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20181130/what-herd-immunity-and-how-does-it-protect-us
Vaccines do not inject toxins.Vaccines inject a part of a germ or an inactivated germ The body can see this and make an antibody to it. When we make small amount of antibodies the body can remember and when exposed to the live real germ ,make many many antibodies very quickly and thus fight the disease This is called an anamnestic response
I would like to be respectful of Dr Martin’s poor health but he does not fully present facts.I also got the first doses of Hep B vaccine The non vaccinated are a threat to babies and immuno-cmpromised people who cannot protect themselves by having been vaccinated/do not have strong immune systems
Parents rights are not taken away by this law
People who have been vaccinated CAN get ill but usually are less ill
Pertussis vaccine especially wears off but vaccinated kids do not start epidemics that is twisting facts.
Vaccines can wear off–hence boosters.
silly statements like having a lawmaker worry about you do not fly,t If you had had an accident and were in the ER we all incur the cost even if you have insurance
Yes, there will always be outliers who cry that seat belts killed their relative or the old”if I had had a helmet on I would be dead”These are outliers and often a partial story, and might be light on facts but fire up emotions We would rather feel than think
What people seem to wrestle with is that we live in a civilized society Thus someone sets speed limits You do not have to obey but you get a fine if caught Someone makes laws and we can debate civilly and disagree- and then vote Parents are not being forced to do anything but protect others; we are a self centered bunch these days and it rankles but it is called society If one does not have children one still pays taxes to support the schools etc We do not like losing our entiteledness and we do not like sharing in America lest someone get something WE did not. We like independence but, look, vaccines are safe and the world before them was far more dangerous
I think that the people who vote yes on 1 endanger me –they do not have the right to do that if we want to argue about rights.
No on 1
Anything that is not naturally part of the human body becomes a toxin when injected. Vaccines have a great number of non-human components. Every single vaccine injects toxins into the human body. Every germ is a toxin to the human body.
The California pertussis outbreak occurred in 2010. Doctors were very perplexed by the outbreak, because well in excess of 90% of the infected kids were fully vaccinated. There were especially high infection rates in fully vaccinated 10 year olds. That was stated in a 2012 article from the Journal of Pediatrics.
Vaccines cannot be said to be safe. They are TOLERATED by most people, but they do injure some people. And too many of the injured pay the price of a lifetime of suffering and financial loss.
People who vote No on 1 endanger my grandchildren. Children have the right for their bodies to be safe from the effects of injected toxins. All parents have the right to decide for their children. Parental rights are God-given, and it is wrong for them to be usurped by mob rule.
And No on 1 is part of a slippery slope. If such laws pass, are they going to later mandate Gardasil for all girls, or will they mandate flu shots for everybody? There are limits as to which laws can be admitted as morally acceptable. Once we start mandating laws that risk a person’s well-being, then we will be well established in living under tyranny.
A Yes on 1 vote merely maintains the current vaccination mandates we already have in place. Nothing would change as it veto’s a new law that removes the right to use an exemption from one or more vaccines required for all school (public, private and even online), daycare and preschool programs, college and any sort of post secondary or trade school, and all health care workers, whether you have contact with the public or not, for any position.
it’s very important to actually look at the data out there and not listen to manipulated sound bites. Regardless of how you vote on March 3rd, please make it an educated vote. It is erroneous to say or believe that Maine has low vaccination rates. There are multiple measures, which can get very tricky as you can’t compare them to each other. In general, Maine is usually at least at the national average, and on several measures well above. Along those lines, we should never be comparing Maine’s exemption rates with the rest of the country when each state has different measures and lots of missing data. Maine has virtually ZERO missing data because our school nurses rock at doing their jobs! You don’t believe me? Actually LOOK at the data for more than a few glancing seconds. I will be voting Yes on 1. LD 798 was a solution without a problem.
These were the most current rates in Maine at the time LD 798 was put forth. Note the uptick in rates in 1st and 7th grades. Conveniently, Maine stopped collecting that data.
https://www11.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/immunization/publications/2018/2017-School-Immunization-Report.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3J6WJ_7UVNBUUfIHHa2fC6UZRIgc0hYfFqBv5JKvT9G4tAUUM7pzp6b20
Connie, I have appreciated your care as your patient, and miss you as a local provider. When I was pregnant 20 years ago and asked you about a flu shot, you suggested we not complicate things in light of my high risk pregnancy. Now you are advocating that we strip away the doctor’s ability to make those decisions as there will be no room for exceptions. A pregnant hospital worker would need to be vaccinated without any room for an exemption.
Dr Martin
I can only imagine your suffering ,sir. But becasue you suffered from a rare disease whose causes are poorly understood does not make it fair to disseminate false information It is one thing to share concerns but strong words like toxins are out of line.Vaccines are the germs you get if naturally infected, just cut in pieces or killed.Yes there are often-not always -preservatives No more and probably less dangerous than what is in salad dressing(ever read that label?ugh)
Children do have the right to be safe and parents should make the best decision for their kids This law only says,about kids, that if you make a certain decision your kids cannot go to public schools etc There is no religion that is against vaccine. But you and others have every right not to be vaccinated
In most hospitals now staff is required to receive flu vaccine( they also had to have Hep B) but you cannot really force that- so people are offered an option- wear a mask for flu season
Lets not turn a public health measure into a dictatorship issue That is fearmongering
Noone endangers your grandchildren by having a vaccinated kid near them – getting a horrible disease does.
We learned about the waning immunity of pertussis vaccine through outbreaks of kids previously vaccinated WHO NEEDED A BOOSTER.
You make your best decision As Becky says make them based on facts
Becky-
You are right school nurses are hardworking angels
and yes I think the medical professionals i talk to have worked very hard to get vaccination levels up
The law is about exemptions for religious and philosophical purpose for k-12 college students and health care workers( I say ,for the uniformed) Patients have a right to not be given the flu which can kill or be given any other disease by their kids’ playmates or their physician
I would point out that I am pretty sure that the doctors in this community will not deny you care becasue you do not vaccinate your kids They try hard to be respectful But they have an obligation
This is a public health measure and with such some have to flex for the greater good.
You have every right not to vaccinate your kids You should not have the right to send them to a place where they infect others. I do not agree with every law either
Non vaccinators who do not trust the medical establishment- and who in America has any respect for the pharmaceutical companies??grrr– might be the first to be upset if, trying to get care for their lymphoma, the nurse infects them with influenza and they lose their life.
You may now proceed to tall me about autism as Dr M did about chronic fatigue These are dreadful things Dreadful But there is simply not a shred of evidence that one causes the other Coincidence is powerful But it isn’t t logic. I hope people will use their heads and vote No They can still not vaccinate but No on 1 respects their neighbors kids. I also hope they will see a doctor who will talk with them maybe adjust the shot schedule- they can do that, Please do not infect more kids and more humans with emotional illogical statements This is a tough one but your car is more dangerous than an MMR
and Becky- that last statement is wrong There are still medical exemptions
well…. if I didn’t have my facts straight, I wouldn’t have posted in the first place. You’re letting your emotions get in the way of logical arguments presented by both Becky and myself. Don’t be deluded by those who have an agenda to cover up the dangers of vaccines. Vaccines probably do some good for some people, but they can also do a lot of harm to other people. That’s fact, and if you argue that, you’re just in over your head.
And when I said that No on 1 people endanger my grandchildren, I didn’t mean that they were endangered by vaccinated people. I meant that they could be endangered by having vaccines forced upon them. I was injured by a vaccine, my son was injured by a vaccine, and who knows if my grandchildren have predispositions to vaccine injury. My sons are not willing to take the chance with their kids, and they certainly don’t want to be forced into doing it.
well…. if I didn’t have my facts straight, I wouldn’t have posted in the first place.
-The only indisputable fact is you got sick
What causes chronic fatigue is very unclear I know you will not change your mind,few people do especially if they suffered, but I write to share information with others. CFS may have many causes The mayo clinic site does not even mention vaccines
Don’t be deluded by those who have an agenda to cover up the dangers of vaccines
-This is where we get away ffrom facts and start with the conspiracy theory paranoia etc.Physicians give vaccines becasue the benefits far outweigh the risks; the agenda I think they have is- your health
.
Vaccines probably do some good for some people,
-no sir VAccines do alot of good Period
but they can also do a lot of harm to other people. That’s fact, and if you argue that, you’re just in over your head.
-Oh I am not in over my head Very few people are harmed by vaccines Many just think they are becasue we have no known cause for CFS or autism yet The link to autism has been positively dis proven thank heavens
And when I said that No on 1 people endanger my grandchildren, I didn’t mean that they were endangered by vaccinated people
-oh, ok You implied that when you talked about the pertussis outbreak in California, so that is why I thought that
. I meant that they could be endangered by having vaccines forced upon them.
-But they are not being forced on anyone There we go getting away from facts They only are required to get vaccines if they attend the public schools etc etc as in the bill No one is being held down and inoculated for pete sake
-Certainly families carry similar traits.
-I think there is a saying I heard a nurse use- people have every right to make bad decisions You would say that of me but I say it of you And fortunately no on 1 does not force anyone to be vaccinated One just has to make their way through the results of the choices one makes
It would be nice if all interpersonal communication could take place within a logical framework of discussion and debate.
I wasn’t going to get into this debate, but I am.
Dr Martin, I was one of your patients. You were the best dentist I ever had. I was very sad when you had to leave because of your illness. I am happy to read that you have somewhat recovered, and able to do more things now.
I also understand how passionate you are to tell of your experience, and believing that your shot caused your illness. ( as well as your sons experience )
I have read every post with an open mind, and it’s easy to see each post has the same passion, and belief, that they alone are stating the true facts.
I believe each of you is correct in your post, and of your own personal experiences and beliefs. And I respect your own personal opinions, beliefs and experiences.
This vote, yes or no, is also a personal vote, based on our own experiences, and beliefs And no one should be trashing anyone else for that. It’s the same with any vote..be it political, religious, education, etc. A vote is a personal choice based on what we, as individuals, believe to be true. Dr. M. believes immunizations are toxic and will vote yes, based on HIS personal experience. I will vote no based on what I believe..you…and you…and you will vote either yes or no, based on what YOU believe. That’s the only ‘reason’ any of us need. No need to be causing any ruckus, or calling anyone out, because we are ALL right! Why? because it is what we EACH believe to be true…..and that is how we should all vote for anything..what we TRULY believe to be true..not what a paid TV ad says, or what your neighbor says, or what any post says…..but what YOU, in your own heart and mind, believe to be the best vote for your….peace everyone…this world needs more peace and understanding of each other….
Suzie, thank you for the kind words and the rational commentary. Come over and say hello if you see me around town! I like to see my former patients.