From Nathan Jordan.
IN support of David Rotheram’s letter (JEP, 23 July) criticising the publication of a letter on 18 July by Christine Thoma, which actively discourages immunisation as a matter of course, I would like to challenge Ms Thoma to produce verifiable evidence that the immune system can be likened to a hotel with lax security.

Indeed, by the same scintillating analogy it would be better to drink from a murky brook in a bid to toughen up our stomachs, rather than quaff that purified tat foisted upon us by Jersey Water.

No doubt our ‘lazy’ skeletal structure could also be encouraged to become more robust by our refusing to wear a seatbelt in the hope of taking a few more knocks.

While neither Ms Thoma or myself is an authority on medicine, the NHS most certainly is. The section of their website devoted to immunisation points out that the risk of complications arising from a vaccination is negligible compared to the very real risk of contracting a fatal illness.

Moreover, far from being a personal decision, refusing an immunisation for yourself or your children is actively harmful to others, given the very tangible risk of becoming a carrier of disease.

The heartbreaking pictures of smallpox sufferers in the Third World prior to a global immunisation programme should be evidence enough of the benefits of vaccination.

Children in the same parts of the world, who die daily of easily treatable illnesses, do not seem to have any biological advantage over their western counterparts, who are inoculated against the same throughout their childhood.

Having made the case for the medical aspect of this issue, Mr Rotheram was also quite correct in questioning the publication of such a letter. The fundamental right to freedom of expression can only be enjoyed insofar as it does not infringe upon the rights of others.
While I believe that Ms Thoma was speaking more out of ignorance than malice, following her advice could threaten every man, woman and child on this Island.

Should anyone else wish to continue the debate of vaccination in principle, I would advise directing them to the above site in the hope that the information contained therein will prevent them from gambling with their own safety and that of everyone else.