You donât have a right to âchooseâ not to be vaccinated | Letters Hereâs what readers are saying in Tuesdayâs letters to the editor. Â Â Associate Director of Pharmacy Ariane Schieber measures a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Ohio State University East hospital. [ BARBARA J. PERENIC, COLUMBUS DISPATCH | The Columbus Dispatch ] Published 2 hours ago | Letter, April 18 When I graduated from medical school in 1955, we still had contagious wards in hospitals full of patients with polio, measles, chicken pox, mumps, meningitis, bacterial resistant pneumonia, etc. Tuberculosis sanatoria were filled with sick and dying patients. Leper colonies existed. Fortunately, because of the development of vaccines and antibiotics, smallpox was wiped from the Earth and diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus, polio, leprosy and many other contagious diseases have been essentially eliminated. In those days, we had parents and other citizens who recognized their duty to obtain these preventive medications for themselves and their children. Let us hope and pray that reason prevails today, and we do not fall for the ridiculous suggestions by those who claim a right to choose.