From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
Pamela Reddy
*OAH_RuleComments.OAH
docket # 8-0900-30570
Wednesday, July 17, 2013 9:58:01 AM
To Judge Eric L. Lipman - Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge and any applicable law makers of Minnesota:
It has come to my attention that the Minnesota Department of Health is hoping to add vaccines to those required for
school entry and that an administrative law judge is presiding to determine whether or not these requirements are
necessary. I beg you to realize that they are absolutely necessary. They are especially necessary for people like my
daughter, Caroline. My sweet Caroline was born with an infantile hemangioma on her face. Hemangiomas (sometimes called strawberry
birthmarks) are common, generally harmless vascular tumors. These growths go through a proliferation phase, becoming
larger before they involute and often disappear on their own.
Caroline’s hemangioma presented in a “beard” pattern and was particularly worrisome because it involved her lip and
gum tissue. If left untreated, it could have compromised her ability to eat or speak. There was also concern about airway
involvement, which would threaten her ability to breathe. When she was only two months old, she started taking oral
corticosteroids to suppress the growth of her hemangioma. She would continue this regimen for eleven long months.
Because corticosteroids interfere with the body's immune response, my daughter was considered immunocompromised
for an entire year. During that time, she was unable to receive some vaccines because of the medication she was
taking. Suddenly, vaccine theory and herd immunity were not just textbook terms to me (I hold a bachelor's degree in
biology). They were necessary for my daughter’s health. Vaccines are not simply a choice that affects the individual
being vaccinated. Vaccines affect public health. SHigh vaccination rates and community immunity
are necessary to keep immunocomprimised children like Caroline, infants who are too young to be fully vaccinated, and
the elderly healthy. They are necessary to prevent epidemics like the current measles outbreak in Wales. Maintaining a
vaccinated population is a simple, effective, and important way to take care of one another. Scientists, physicians, and
public health officials also agree that vaccines are a safe way to take care of one another.
I hope that you will take Caroline into consideration when presiding over this case. I hope that you will rule in favor of
public health.
Pamela Reddy