I am a Christian home school educator, mother, grandmother and registered nurse. I will be voting “Yes on 1” to repeal LD 798, which eliminates long held, religious and philosophical exemptions for required vaccines in Maine. “Yes” will preserve equal access to education, employment and parental choice.

The bill threatens to remove thousands of students from public, private, parochial, online schools (preschool through graduate), day cares, and termination of skilled health care and day care workers who decline even one required vaccine. That is not justified.

Maine CDC confirms: In 2018, 78% of whooping cough cases and 62% of chicken pox cases were vaccinated. Likewise, Maine’s only 2019 measles case was vaccinated. Business Insider, Fox News and KATC, Louisiana, have reported recent mumps and pertussis outbreaks in 100% vaccinated populations. Banishing unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Maine citizens from full participation in public life sets a dangerous precedent and will not control the spread of disease.

LD 798 forces parents, who previously held philosophical or religious exemptions, to comply with the entire Maine vaccine schedule, or home school.

While other parents may not object now, additional vaccines can be mandated at any time. Pending laws exist to mandate the entire CDC schedule — 69 doses for 16 diseases, in Virginia; and the controversial HPV (Gardasil) vaccine in New York, where laws similar to LD 798 have recently passed. Another New York law would allow practitioners to administer STD vaccines to children age 9 and up without parental consent.

We must not lose control of our children’s medical decisions.

Jessie Boda, Poland