I would like to thank Mr. Bolte for reading my letter and engaging in dialogue as well. There are a couple of points I’d like to follow up on:

Benefits of vaccinating children against COVID (and other contagious diseases): Mr. Bolte chooses to ignore the critical point I made. Children do get infected (e.g., at least 20 SJISD students this year alone). Unvaccinated children are still more likely to get infected (https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/19022/CDC-recommends-COVID-vaccine-boosters-for) and remain infectious for longer (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/12/vaccinated-who-get-breakthrough-infections-less-contagious/)—if a child then infects a parent or grandparent and they, in turn, get seriously ill, that will definitely affect the child negatively, if not traumatically. Hence, vaccines and boosters for children benefit them in numerous ways.

Claims of censorship: Mr. Bolte claims that social media companies will censor anyone who claims anything contrary to my science-backed description of vaccine benefits. He need only look at local Facebook pages to see counter-examples to his claims. Further, he offers no examples, no lawsuits. Facebook, we should remember, is a publicly held (Capitalist) company and is beholden to its stockholders. If it were nationalized, it would be held to First Amendment standards. In fact, Mr. Bolte’s very letter in this publication and the websites he lists are proof that he and these other “mavericks” are allowed to publish their views uncensored.

David Robison

San Juan Island