California parents have the right to not vaccinate their kids. Just keep them out of schools

To the editor: Parents in California have the right to not vaccinate their children (“California has a strict vaccine mandate. Will it survive the Trump administration?,” Sept. 10). What they cannot do is to refuse to vaccinate their children and send their children to public school and put other peoples’ children at risk for infectious diseases. The choice is theirs — either participate in the community that protects all children or forfeit the benefits given to all those who do participate.

Victoria I. Paterno, Los Angeles
This writer is a pediatrician.

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To the editor: Not mentioned in the article, among the many attacks on vaccines recently, was the one by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The ability of vaccine manufacturers to produce these agents and be protected from malicious litigation has been a boon to delivering vaccines. Now, Kennedy wants to include autism as one of the covered consequences of vaccines, despite the science, potentially bankrupting a successful program.

Peter Ambrose, Claremont

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.