Nick Isgro, vice-chairman of the Maine Republican Party, recently made some comments about vaccinations and the potential of disease spreading from the huge influx of illegal immigrants. The entire politically correct world seems to have reared its ugly head over the comments and nothing short of banishment to Antarctica is deemed necessary.

However, maybe one should stop and consider a little bit of the information that is available before overreacting.

The Centers for Disease Control acknowledges that there is a risk of disease spreading across the border. Its website states that, “The large movement of people across the United States and Mexico border has led to an increase in health issues, particularly infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.”

The CDC specifically cites the possibility of the cross-border movement of “HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis, syphilis, Mycobacterium bovis infection, brucellosis, and foodborne diseases, such as infections associated with raw cheese and produce.”

The Bangor Daily News published an article on Mr. Isgro’s comments and was one of the louder voices chastising him for bringing forth false statements.

The BDN article said that, “Isgro’s assertions are false, according to state and federal health officials, who have reported no links between immigrants, their vaccination rates and the return of diseases such as mumps and measles. In fact, 113 countries had higher vaccination rates than the U.S. in 2015, according to the World Health Organization. And U.S. immigration laws require those seeking permanent residence here to become vaccinated for once-eradicated diseases.”

Neglected in this statement  is that none of the 113 countries that had higher vaccination rates than the United States are called Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or Mexico. While those seeking permanent status are required to be vaccinated, illegal immigrants are not vaccinated.

Our current U. S. immigration laws do not seem to be terribly effective in preventing the illegal mass migration of people entering the country, let alone making sure that they are vaccinated.

It is true state and federal health officials have not declared any “one to one” relationship between increased disease incidence and illegal immigration. However, the study is ongoing and they are trying to determine the reason for an increase in the incidence of measles, mumps, pertussis and tuberculosis in the Southern border region.

So of what is Mr. Isgro guilty? He is guilty of having an opinion that is different from the progressive left.

In his first tweet Mr. Isgro states that, “We need a serious talk…”. It appears that he is asking for discussion. The opposition does not want discussion since they only want their own voices to be considered.

Mr. Isgro in a subsequent tweet asks, not demands, that there be a “pause on migration from countries” that have a problem with these diseases, which is certainly a reasonable position.

The BDN article also has a problem that Mr. Isgro sided with a group that does not want mandatory vaccination for all children in Maine. There is presently debate in the Maine Legislature to make mandatory vaccination of all children with only a medical exemption possible. Currently Maine parents can move to opt out from having their children vaccinated. There does not seem to be any statement by Mr. Isgro that is against vaccinating children against communicable disease.

As parents we had our children vaccinated with the recommended vaccines available at that time. To the best of my knowledge our grandchildren have also been vaccinated. If we had it to do over again we would certainly vaccinate again. This is, in our view, the safest way to raise children. However, I am adamantly opposed to the government mandating the medical treatment of our children when no imminent threat exists. I believe that this is the position that Mr. Isgro was taking.

There needs to be a message to the spineless Republicans who immediately ran for cover when this controversy immerged. You best pay attention to the position of your constituents and not the progressives. While not scientific but yet revealing, the radio station WVOM ran an online poll asking whether folks supported mandatory vaccination. The overwhelming response was no!

Another View is a weekly column written collaboratively by Dale Landrith of Camden, Ken Frederic of Bristol, Paul Ackerman of Martinsville, Jan Dolcater of Rockport and Ralph “Doc” Wallace of Rockport.