WASHINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) caused a stir on Monday after he called for “balance” on the issue of vaccinating children against disease. (For the record, the scientific community overwhelmingly supports childhood vaccinations, and there is virtually no evidence that the measles vaccine is unsafe.) Since Christie’s views are now making the rounds, we thought it would be worth looking at what some other possible 2016 White House contenders have had to say. Here’s where some of the most prominent pols stand on the issue:
RICK PERRY
In 2007, then-Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) became the first governor in the nation to sign a bill requiring young girls to get a vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV. A conservative backlash forced Perry to reverse course. He later called the order “a mistake” and acquiesced to the Texas legislature, which overturned the bill.
“The fact of the matter is that I didn’t do my research well enough to understand that we needed to have a substantial conversation with our citizenry,” Perry said during his 2012 run for president.
In 2014, Texas Republicans enshrined their victory in the party platform.
“All adult citizens should have the legal right to conscientiously choose which vaccines are administered to themselves, or their minor children, without penalty for refusing a vaccine,” the document states. “We oppose any effort by any authority to mandate such vaccines or any medical database that would contain personal records of citizens without their consent.”
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HILLARY CLINTON
As a presidential candidate in 2008, Hillary Clinton said in a campaign questionnaire that she was “committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines.”
This past Sunday, President Barack Obama encouraged parents to “get your kids vaccinated,” but he, too, once spoke about the need to investigate the possibility of a link between vaccines and autism — a theory that is now widely discredited.
“We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it,” said Obama at a rally in April 2008. It’s not entirely clear whether Obama was referring to himself when he said “this person.”
In 2009, Obama committed $300 million to “ensure more underserved Americans receive the vaccines they need” via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
