Monday, February 2, 2015

Chris Christie and Rand Paul Want "Measure of Choice" for Vaccinations ~ Updated

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Previous Related Post:
Measles Epidemic Pits Anti-Vaxx Parents Against Public Health

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Presidential hopefuls Chris Christie and Rand Paul have decided that raising money for their 2016 campaigns is more important than the health of children everywhere. Both are pandering to the Anti-Vaxx movement, saying that vaccinating your kids should be a "choice" and not a mandate from the government. This is an epic fail on their parts, and completely irresponsible!

But what do they care about the public good? They only want to be President of the United States, right?

In order to get elected, these guys have to be seen as the "Anti-Obama," and the President is pro-Vaccination (because he is also pro-science and has a brain).





It's bad enough that Rand Paul's father, perpetual candidate Ron Paul, is a medical doctor, and Rand Paul himself is some type of doctor. But Chris Christie is worse, since he recently had an Ebola patient quarantined and basically held at house arrest in New Jersey, but for kids who get measles from the unvaccinated - you're on your own, kids!

UPDATE: The Nurse who was quarantined by Chris Christie for Ebola had some words for him:

"I think this is a good example of Gov. Christie's making some very ill-informed statements. We heard it a lot during the Ebola discussion, and now it seems to have happened again," Maine medic Kaci Hickox said in an interview that aired Monday night on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes."
. . . "I think the unfortunate thing or the scary thing is that I want a leader who consults experts and thinks about sort of all of the different sides to an issue before making statements and — and policies that are unfounded in science," she said.



They are both being intellectually dishonest about their true beliefs. Notice they both used the phrase "measure of choice," which tells me that this is probably a GOP talking point and not something they actually wanted to say. They are pandering to the base.

From Guardian UK
Christie, who is considered a leading presidential candidate, told press during his visit to the UK that parents should have “some measure of choice” in the decision to vaccinate their children.
“It’s more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official,” said Christie. “I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So that’s the balance that the government has to decide.”
Within hours, Christie’s office had sent a clarification. “The governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated,” wrote a representative. “At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate.”

From The Hill
Paul was asked to weigh in on vaccines, after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a likely rival for the GOP nomination in 2016, said Monday morning that there should be "some measure of choice" for parents leery of vaccinating their children.

"I'm not anti-vaccine at all, but most of them ought to be voluntary," Paul, an ophthalmologist, said Monday on the "Laura Ingraham Show," in a segment circulated by the Democratic National Committee along with criticism of Paul's views.

Paul added a shot at potential presidential primary rival former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who made an HPV vaccine mandatory in his state before later calling it a "mistake."

"I think there are times where there can be some rules, but for the most part it ought to be voluntary and the biggest one is — I don't know if you remember when Governor Perry made it mandatory to get, for a sexually transmitted disease, to have everybody have to take it," Paul said. "While I think it's a good idea to take the vaccine, I think that's a personal decision for individuals to take and when they take it."































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