Dear Dr. Wisotsky:

I trust you as a pediatrician. I know that the medical care provided at Tenafly Pediatrics is of the highest quality. I have entrusted my children to the doctors at Tenafly Pediatrics and would not hesitate to recommend the medical practice to anybody. Through the years, the doctors at Tenafly Pediatrics have helped my children stay healthy and recover from illnesses. Considering the quality of physicians at this practice is likely representative of the care that you personally provide, I am concerned that the value of your medical advice on the issue of giving children the mRNA vaccines is being lost by the passion of your pleas.

I am therefore suggesting that your letters would be more persuasive if you took a more objective tone, similar to if you were advocating for continuing conservative treatment over a generally safe surgical procedure.

In your letter of last week (“Protecting Our Children With Vaccinations” November 11, 2021), you stated that a total of 4600 children nationwide, in the 5-11 age group, have been hospitalized with COVID. I presume that your 4600 children statistic is from CDC data, and my understanding is that this data includes an overreporting of those who have been hospitalized because of COVID. My understanding is that the CDC includes within this number any child that has been hospitalized and tested positive for COVID within two weeks of the hospitalization. This means that this number would include a child who was hospitalized for an injury totally unrelated to COVID, and also just happened to test positive for COVID. I do not believe that this is an intentional misrepresentation by you, but rather that no statistic is kept that tells us how many children have been hospitalized because of COVID, which is scandalous in and of itself. It is also my understanding that there are more than 28 million children ages 5-11 nationwide, so 4600 children is not statistically significant.

I believe that the parents who have not vaccinated their children need answers to many of the following questions:

Of the children hospitalized because of COVID, how many of them were otherwise healthy without other comorbidities? When were the bulk of these hospitalizations? How many have been hospitalized because of COVID in the past six months? How many children in the age group of 5-11 were given these vaccines prior to the vaccine receiving EUA? How many of these children who the vaccine had been tested on experienced side effects, what were the side effects and what was the outcome of these side effects?

Additionally, what have been the side effects of these mRNA vaccines on children and adults? How many have been hospitalized, perished and what has been the overall outcomes of any side effect from the vaccine? I expect that these numbers are statistically small, but are they smaller than 4600 children out of 28 million?

Additionally, is there any scientific data that shows the vaccine stops the transmission of COVID? I do not doubt that these mRNA vaccines are effective at making any interaction with COVID benign, at least for an undetermined period of time, but absent a showing that it significantly prevents the transmission of the virus, would you not agree that any argument founded upon needing to take the shot, showing proof of vaccination or adopting different protocols with regards to masks and quarantine of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated is unwarranted and unnecessarily punitive against those who do not take the shot?

Please understand that the audience you are trying to reach with your message is largely dug-in deep in their positions. You need to address the studies and data that you believe to be unreliable and explain why these studies and data should be disregarded.

It is my hope that all adults and children, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, remain safe and healthy and that we can soon put this horrible experience behind us without any further mortality. Please also do not interpret this article to be against anything you are saying. I have no opposition to these vaccines. Rather, I am listening to what those who are opposed to them are saying, and I know that unless these concerns are adequately addressed this issue will continue to rip our community and nation apart.