It might be a good idea to follow the science
Bill Press says remarks by Chris Christie and Rand Paul on vaccines are another case of the GOP defying science.
Politics is a funny business. And totally unpredictable. Just when it looks like some politician is riding high, you never know what unexpected event might trip them up. Look at Chris Christie and Rand Paul. They were riding high on their way to 2016 this week, when they both came down with a bad case of measles.
Christie tripped first. He invited a group of journalists along on a trip to London to watch him burnish his foreign policy credentials as a presidential candidate. (By attending a soccer game?) But reporters were more interested in the big news back home, where exposure of some children to measles at Disneyland had spread to over a hundred cases in 14 states.
Asked whether parents should have their kids vaccinated against measles, Christie first told reporters that he and his wife had their children vaccinated. But then, careful not to offend conservative voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, he added: “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.”
Christie’s clueless comment caused such a firestorm. What? Some parents can choose to put my kids at risk? He was forced to backpedal the next day, putting out a statement asserting “there is no question kids should be vaccinated.” But the damage had already been done. The following day, Christie simply shut up and refused to talk to reporters, which is probably the smartest thing he’s ever done as governor.
Meanwhile, Rand Paul went off the deep end and refused to back down. All parents should be able to choose whether to vaccinate their kids or not. It’s a matter of “freedom,” he insisted. Oh, no, it’s not. That’s taking libertarianism too far. Freedom is not absolute. Yes, we enjoy freedom of speech, but you can’t cry “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Yes, parents are free to raise their own kids, but that doesn’t mean you can let them play in traffic or deny them life-saving medication.
As if that’s not bad enough, Paul also resurrected the myth that the measles vaccine causes “mental disorders,” even though he could not provide one example of such a case. Paul was apparently referring to a 1998 paper published in The Lancet that linked the vaccine to autism. That report was subsequently declared to be fraudulent, and its author was stripped of his medical license. There’s zero medical evidence of a link between vaccination and mental disorder. You’d expect Dr. Paul to know that.
Fearing further embarrassment, Republican leaders raced to reassure the public they were not the “anti-vaxxy Party.” “All children ought to be vaccinated,” declared Speaker John Boehner. “As a victim of polio, I’m a big fan of vaccinations,” echoed Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, which may have calmed the political storm for now. But Republicans will continue to face similar problems — until they stop trying to secondguess the scientists.
After all, this isn’t the first time Republican politicians have defied science. They make a practice of it. Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence on evolution, many conservatives still insist on the teaching of creationism in public schools. Despite the overwhelming evidence of global warming, climate deniers in Congress still block any action on climate change. And now, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence of the safety and efficacy of the measles vaccine, some conservatives are still sowing fear in the minds of parents — as a result of which measles, declared eradicated in 2000, is back.
There’s little support for new federal or state law mandating that parents have their children vaccinated for measles. One would hope that common sense, and attention to medical science, would suffice for parents to do the right thing. But, for those who don’t, there should be a price to pay. And it’s very simple: You have the legal right to opt out of vaccinating your kids, but you do not have the legal right to expose my kids to such a deadly disease. From now on, if your children have not been inoculated, they may not attend public school, play in a public playground, hang out in a public mall, or frolic in a public amusement park, like Disneyland.
We must protect children inoculated against measles from those who are not. And if you think this is another liberal conspiracy of the coastal elite, may I remind you: The state with the highest vaccination rate for school-age children — is Mississippi.