When movie critics play doctor

(Editor's note: This is an open letter to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

-- No medical education or training is necessary for someone who can write such brilliant, eloquent and profoundly meaningful and moving prose as: “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.”

Dear CDC,

Albuquerque film critic Devin O'Leary says there is no such thing as herd immunity, or community immunity. Mr. O'Leary explained this so thoroughly and eloquently in a recent Facebook post in which he said:

“There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.”

Unfortunately, your website says there is such a thing as herd immunity, and, based on the film critic's Facebook post, I'm demanding that you remove your reference to it. Your website says this about herd, or community immunity:

“Community immunity: A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has little opportunity to spread within the community. Also known as herd immunity.”

As you can see, your website is in direct contradiction to Mr. O'Leary's exhaustively researched “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.” statement.

As far as I know, Mr. O'Leary has absolutely no medical education or training, although I'm sure he has reviewed films that have medical themes and plots. But that doesn't matter because no medical education or training is necessary for someone who can write such brilliant, eloquent and profoundly meaningful and moving prose as: “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.”

So, based on film critic O'Leary's “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.” statement I demand that you remove your reference to herd immunity from your website and replace it with Mr. O'Leary's “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.” proclamation. The American people need the film critic's exhaustive knowledge on this subject.

I am hoping and expecting that film critic O'Leary will soon be expounding on other medical subjects about which he knows nothing—brain surgery, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, tuberculosis, mental illness, gout, lumbago and even ingrown toe nails—and when he does I will forward you his pronouncements and expect that you will modify your website accordingly and immediately.

Let us all go forth with a new understanding of infectious diseases based on film critic O'Leary's, “There. Is. No. Herd. Immunity. If. There. Is. No. Immunity.”

Sincerely,

Dennis Domrzalski