The fact is that vaccinations save lives. I spent 21 years as an active duty military officer and my arm was a pincushion for all the vaccinations that were required to keep me and my fellow service-members safe during deployments. In that role, I could either choose to take the vaccine or accept the alternative, which was to leave the service.  These parents will have a similar choice if this ruling were to be approved.  They could homeschool, send their kids to a private school, or move out of state. My kids fortunately made it through the public schools before these anti-vaccine parents have taken over the conversation. However, my wife is a public school teacher and comes home with tales of chaos each day as more and more students are quarantined, sick with the disease, or exposed due to an unvaccinated family member. As a society we are suffering through a continuation of this pandemic because a small, vocal, and irrational percentage of the population thinks they are the only voice that matters.  I'm tired of it. Don't be cowed by a vocal minority. Please make the sane, rational, and science-backed choice to approve this request and mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all students and staff at Virginia public schools.