To all who support HB 1638,

When I chose to delay the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine until my sons were 8 and 11, I was in good company. Most parents with vaccine risk awareness choose to delay, rather than skip the vaccine entirely. And we do so for the best of reasons. We know the risk that our child will contribute to a measles outbreak is extremely small, yet all of us wish for a healthy society, as well. Finding the balance is a personal journey.

Now consider the consequences of voting for a bill that threatens millions of people with tremendously costly consequences in an attempt to force all people to make identical medical decisions? This not only eliminates our human right to informed consent, but it guarantees that children will be injured.

This is a mathematical certainty, as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and vaccine inserts make clear. Which is why, if you pause to think about it, doctors are trained to offer advice vs. ordering patients around. It protects both the medical ethic of informed consent and the doctor from being blamed for unintended adverse outcomes.

Compare “super small possibility” with “guaranteed to harm,” and the reason why this legislation (HB 1638) is a terrible idea becomes crystal clear.

— March Twisdale