Rand Paul Says Most Vaccinations Ought to Be Voluntary
TIME Health Infectious Disease Rand Paul Says Most Vaccinations Ought to Be Voluntary "I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the first part it ought to be voluntary"
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul waded into an increasingly contentious debate over enforced vaccinations on Monday, saying in a radio interview that inoculating children ought to be voluntary.
Im not anti-vaccine at all, the libertarian Republican said Monday, during an interview with talk radio host Laura Ingraham, but particularly, most of them ought to be voluntary. What happens if you have somebody not wanting to take the smallpox vaccine and it ruins it for everybody else? I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the first part it ought to be voluntary.
Democratic opponents quickly posted the comments to YouTube.
The comments come amid a growing furor over New Jersey Governor Chris Christies suggestion that states should balance laws on vaccination against a parents right to choose. He walked back the remarks Monday amid a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that cases of the measles had spread to 14 states.
Paul walked a similarly fine line, noting that while some vaccines were essential to public health, decisions over timing and dosage should be left open to parents.
Its not only Republicans like Christie and Paul who have found vaccine messaging tricky. President Obama, who urged parents over the weekend to vaccinate their children, previously said that he harbored suspicions about the (long debunked) link between autism and vaccines.
Weve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that its connected to the vaccines, he said in 2008, this person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.
[Bloomberg News].
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Rand Paul Says Most Vaccinations Ought to Be Voluntary