By Maxcey Blaylock | Media and Communications Manager
Editor’s note: This Lariat Letter was written in response to Monday’s column entitled “You shouldn’t have to get the vaccine.”
Reading “You shouldn’t have to get the vaccine” hurt my heart. The author’s argument omitted consideration for one very important group of people: those who are too young and those who are medically unable to get vaccinated. The author argues, “Those screaming at the unvaccinated must come to the realization that this is a matter of individual, not communal, choice. It is not a matter of concern to the health of the general population, because the vaccinated are protected and safe.” At best, this is merely a half-truth. I have two children ages 3 years and 16 months who are, because of their ages, unable to get vaccinated. Bluntly, those who refuse the vaccine are putting my children at risk. As pediatric pulmonologists Dr. Lael M. Yonker and Dr. Anthony J. Fischer said in a recent TIME Magazine article, “As the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant triggers a steep incline in COVID-19 infections across the U.S., pediatric cases, too, are rising dramatically. We must protect our children.” Many Baylor faculty and staff members—and students as well—are parents of children who are too young to get vaccinated. Please, please consider that your decision to not get vaccinated *does* impact more than just yourself.
