Dr. Laura Blaisdell, co-chairwoman of Maine Families for Vaccines and the No on One Coalition, told WGME recently that schools in Maine have seen outbreaks of whooping cough, chicken pox and mumps, all easily preventable with vaccination.

But are these outbreaks easily preventable?

Whooping cough outbreaks occur in the most highly vaccinated communities. A January 2014 New Yorker article spells this out: “Whooping cough is resurgent: just under fifty thousand people caught it in 2012. This is mainly because protection from the current shots wanes over time. But, as the bug circulates, it is also morphing.” A 2014 research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the pertussis vaccine does not prevent colonization or transmission. At best, it minimizes symptoms.

In a 2016 University of Missouri mumps outbreak of 426 cases, “All infected University of Missouri students met the immunization policy requirement of two doses of the Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) vaccine.”

Of five confirmed chicken pox cases at a Wisconsin elementary school, Rusk County Public Health identified “four cases of Breakthrough Chickenpox, which happens in people who have been vaccinated for the disease.”

I’m a paramedic and I’m pro-vaccination, but these outbreaks are occurring despite extremely high rates of vaccination. Dr. Blaisdell should not be misleading the public to justify the goal of removing patient rights.

And this use of misleading information demonstrates exactly why it is important to maintain those rights.

I’m voting yes on Question 1.

Michael Blakemore
Brunswick

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