Tedd Peterson of Cloverdale writes, “Parents who do not have their children immunized pose a major threat to the public at large, especially to those who have weak immune systems, those who are already ill, and those who are elderly. One wonders what they will do should their own children come down with communicable diseases. Rely on prayer?”

Mickey Cooke of Glen Ellen said, “As one who had every disease children got in the 1930’s … before good immunizations, I can tell you that sending an unprotected child to school endangers all others. Polio, whooping cough, measles and chickenpox were endemic in Marin County when I grew up. What’s with these folks who are afraid of immunization?”

Dan Hayes of Petaluma wrote: “Yesterday morning, all three network morning shows were pushing the vaccination story, at the same time slot and that kind of in-sync reporting always makes me leary. Felt manufactured and over hyped.”

Finally, someone who declined to leave a name wrote: “How can you trust a government that will turn you against your neighbor. Do they know best for you . . . or THEM?”

These are just four of the 80 comments left at the end of our most recent online survey, this one about vaccinations and the H1N1 strain, otherwise known as the swine flu.

As we noted in today’s editorial, the survey found that just 45 percent of Press Democrat letter writers and other readers plan on getting an H1N1 flu shot. Thirty-five percent say they won’t get the shot, while 20 percent are uncertain what they plan to do.

To take the survey yourself, see the results and/or read the comments click here. To be included in future surveys, just send an e-mail to me at paul.gullixson@pressdemocrat.com

– Paul Gullixson