A letter to the editor by Rachel Steinmetz accused President Joe Biden of being a domestic terrorist for mandating vaccines.

This writer is misinformed. The mandates are for companies who employ more than 100 people to require vaccination of their employees or get weekly testing. The mandate also includes rules for federal employees, health care workers, etc. No one is coming to anyone’s door to force vaccination. But if you refuse to get the vaccine, you do not have the right to endanger other people. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this in 1905, when it upheld the requirement to be vaccinated against smallpox.

Steinmetz states freedom is the only cause worthy of protection. In reality, no one living in a civil society is totally free. We obey traffic rules, which inhibit our freedom, but we all accept they are for the common good.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly effective and have a serious complication rate of much less than 1 in 100,000.

The reason to get vaccinated is not just to protect yourself; it is to protect others and to stop the pandemic. Our children’s education, our health care system and our economy all depend on that. If everyone who was eligible was vaccinated, the pandemic would be over. Instead, the unvaccinated population is allowing more variants to evolve. They are inhibiting patient care for other things such as trauma, heart attacks and strokes because hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19.

Freedom is important. But with freedom comes the responsibility to be well informed. If you choose to stay unvaccinated, then stay away from other people. And most of all, stop spreading misinformation. Sadly, misinformation has killed many people from a preventable disease.