Letters to the editor

Vaccines help save children’s lives

This week is World Immunization Week. It is a global health campaign to raise public awareness and increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Around the world, a child dies every 20 seconds from a vaccine-preventable disease. Although these children in other countries are thousands of miles away, the conditions they face can cross our borders with astonishing speed.

We will undoubtedly be talking domestically about approaches to vaccination for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, I encourage you to act on something we can all agree upon: helping children for whom access to a health clinic, wellness check, or cartoon band aids is a luxury. Vaccines provide the simple reassurance of a chance to live.

I encourage you not to look the other way on this one. Urge your legislator to support funding for global vaccine programs. Every child deserves a Shot at Life. We all have a stake in the outcome.

Amelia Old

Fort Mill

Hayes has been ineffective

I was surprised to see Sen. Wes Hayes’ recent ad in the newspaper that included the slogan “Real Solutions. Real Results.” Sen. Hayes must think his constituents have amnesia.

He has been in office for 31 years, and has very little to show for it. Our roads are in shambles. He was the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and our schools are among the worst in the country. He was the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee for a decade, and we still don’t have ethics reform. Although Sen. Hayes is a nice man, it is clear that he is an ineffective senator who gets very little done.

The facts are the facts. After 31 years, it’s time for a change. I encourage York County voters to retire Wes Hayes and vote for Wes Climer instead.

Tom Templeton

Rock Hill

This story was originally published April 24, 2016 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor."