Editor,
In response to Sarah Coffey’s asinine letter in Thursday’s Daily Lobo regarding the Gardasil vaccination, I would like to take a moment to encourage everyone to run a Google search for how many young girls have died or experienced complications after receiving the vaccine.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has 68 deaths listed as of June 22 of this year; however, the CDC is notorious for claiming vaccines don’t cause any problems, so I’d take its reports with a grain of salt. Independent international studies are a good counterpart to balance out the CDC.
Second, it should be noted that no long-term studies have ever been performed on recipients of the Gardasil vaccination, and, in fact, no one can even say for certain how long the vaccine is good for or when it wears off.
Third, I think making a pre-pubescent or pre-adolescent girl receive a vaccination for a sexually transmitted disease is not only disgusting but speaks volumes of a society so obsessed with sex as to view young girls as sexual before they even see themselves that way.
Fourth, I would like to condemn any call for forced vaccinations in the United States and point out that no vaccine can currently be forced on any person in the United States, as those decisions are in regard to personal health, which, for now, still remains personal.
Whether a minor is vaccinated is a decision to be left to parents (children are actually legal property), especially as there is a growing number of college-educated individuals in this country who are choosing to put off vaccinating, to selectively vaccinate or to completely forego ever vaccinating their children.
And no, contrary to popular belief, public schools cannot deny a child an education simply because he or she is not vaccinated, nor can any parent be legitimately arrested or harassed by any government agency for refusing to vaccinate.
Forced vaccinations of any kind should scare the hell out of every American as it violates basic personal liberties, and I’m appalled that Coffey would cry out for the government to force loving parents to vaccinate their daughters with a potentially dangerous vaccination. (Google what the World Health Organization has done to girls in Africa, for a start.)
Do you really think you’re more concerned about these young girls’ health than their own parents?
Sarah, go find out what’s in those vaccinations, how they’re made and how they’re preserved. Then go have some children, armed with your new knowledge, and make them get all those injections.
It will make you feel better about yourself and get you off of the backs of parents such as me, who love our daughters and won’t subject them to a shot that can actually be more dangerous than the disease it claims to protect against.
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Alyssa Clevelle
UNM Student
Full Disclaimer: Clevelle is a copy editor for the Daily Lobo, but her opinions represent only herself and are not a reflection of anyone on the Daily Lobo staff.
