Letters: Vaccination vital to protect vulnerable

Polio and smallpox might be prevalent if anti-vaccination campaigners had their way, says a reader. Photo/Getty Images

I was shocked to recently read about recent outbreaks of polio and smallpox amongst our most vulnerable citizens, our children. These crippling diseases causing disfigurement and paralysis will have long lasting negative effects on these children, severely limiting their ability to live life to the full and undoubtedly leading them towards a torturous early death. Thankfully, up until now, this letter is untrue, I haven't read about any outbreak of smallpox or polio, and I'll tell you why, vaccination!

Yes, science coupled with fact-based government health policies has meant polio has disappeared from most parts of the world and smallpox has been eradicated completely.
However, this might not have been the case if the anti-vaccine lobbyists had their way, in their world, children would be struck down in their youth and millions of people would die young.

Dr John Fraser, the Dean of Auckland University's Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences was right when he recently likened the anti-vaccination movement to terrorism, as it is an easy comparison to make between those who use misinformation, wacky theories and fear to convince parents not to vaccinate with those who seek to do harm in more direct ways.

It's completely natural for parents to be worried about causing the tiniest amount of harm to their children, it is for this reason parents should seek the best medical advice, and you won't find this advice lurking in dark corners of internet, you'll find it in your GP's office and in our universities.

RYAN GRAY
Rotorua

It's great to see the roundabout at the intersection of Springfield and Otonga Rds is to be upgraded but for two reasons I am concerned that the proposed pedestrian crossings are so close to it.

Firstly because when driving around a roundabout drivers are concentrating on exactly that, cars to give way to and cars that have already entered the roundabout. Secondly, cars exiting but having to give way to pedestrians are likely to impede the flow of traffic continuing around to exit beyond the two roads with pedestrian crossings.

Maybe position the crossings further away from the roundabout.

PADDI HODGKISS
Rotorua

I know about the game of rugby but know even more about head and neck injuries.

It appals me to see and hear about the head and neck injuries that happen on the rugby field.

Would wearing a suitable, protective helmet be unmacho? It may prevent long term effects, in the future, which are even more devastating and unmacho?

KATIE WILLIAMS
Rotorua

The process described by Mr Macpherson (Letters, June 1) as ethnic diversity has been happening for well over a decade so is neither new nor dramatic.

Also, terms like bi, multi and inter-culturalism are not useful without specific context. Their arbitrary use may be convenient for the writer but not for the reader.

Given that greater ethnic diversity is a good thing, surely the case for co-governance becomes stronger? The alternative model preferred by your correspondent would appear to be the cover-all democratic governance.

Our city's citizenry made their choice clear last October.

MIKE BYRNE
Rotorua

GJ Philip (Letters, May 30) appears to have a good grasp of Christianity but unfortunately he does not seem to understand the theory of evolution.

I do not think that the blame for this lies with GJ Philip but rather with the hijacking of evolution by Atheist naturalists such as Richard Dawkins.

They have projected their world view onto the science to such an extent that it can often be difficult to separate the two.

An example would be Richard Dawkins' "selfish gene" notion which has well and truly been shown to be total fiction. (Dance to the Tune of Life-Denis Noble)

Research over the last 50 years has clearly shown that organisms are not controlled by their DNA or genes but rather it is a lot more complex.

For an example the living cell picks and chooses which parts of the DNA it uses.

It is also clear that living organisms operate on multiple levels of complexity and must therefore be analysed from a multi-scale relativistic perspective.

In fact the whole theory of evolution as it stands is under review by the Royal Society where papers have been presented (Nov 2016) suggesting scrapping the
present theory and replacing it.

And of course there is no reason why God shouldn't use evolution as his tool.

DAVID CARMAN
Rotorua