I read with interest the editorial about vaccine rejection (“With vaccine rejection reaching alarming levels, state should act,’’ Feb. 10). There may well be some legitimate medical reasons to defer vaccination, such as the presence of life-threatening immune disorders, but there are no legitimate social or religious reasons to reject vaccination. Parents who reject vaccination for social or religious reasons are neglecting their children’s health.

I am a pediatrician and child neurologist who has cared for many children who suffered from preventable childhood infections. I had measles when I was a child, in 1950, and have had a lifelong hearing loss ever since. My brother had polio in 1951 and has had trouble walking ever since. I agree with the editorial that Massachusetts should consider abolishing the religious exemption to vaccination. I do not think that whatever God people might choose to believe in would want children to grow up deaf, blind, or paralyzed, or to die, when that is so preventable.

Dr. David Coulter

Natick