I thank Leah Schreiber for her passionate response to my letter (“Doctors Need to Give the Whole Story,” November 4, 2021). I do take issue, however, with her use of words like “condescension,” “dismissal,” “absoluteness” and “certainty” to refer to advice given by my colleagues and me.

For 45 years I have been advising parents about what I think is best for their children to the best of my ability and with the best of intentions, based on sound scientific and medical evidence, not emotion. That was the point of my article. To separate fact from fiction.

The issue is not whether natural infection is superior to vaccination or not. The issue is whether we should vaccinate our children or not. Letting everyone develop immunity via natural infection will result in significant morbidity and mortality. To date 8,300 children in the 5-11 year age group have been hospitalized with COVID and 94 have died. That is a fact.

What may happen in 10 years is a theoretical concern that has never been borne out by any previous vaccine. How many more children would have died or been paralyzed if people had waited 10 years to get the polio vaccine?

We need to protect our children now, and I think vaccination is the best and safest way to do it.

I don’t profess to be infallible or have a crystal ball. Ms. Schreiber is free to decide, based on her research, whether to immunize her family or not. In my humble opinion, if she chooses not to, I think she will be making a mistake, but I wish her only the best.