Rand Paul Says Vaccines Should Not Be Mandatory

[RandySF]

During a Senate Health Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized the idea that parents should be required to vaccinate their children and perpetuated the notion that vaccines themselves could cause harm.

The speech—which came during the opening moments of the hearing, and in the midst of two major measles outbreaks—was framed as an argument in favor of personal liberty, a posture that Paul routinely adopts. But in offering his thoughts, the Kentucky Republican furthered the argument that it is socially reasonable not to vaccinate your kids, a mindset that the scientific community says is already worsening communal health crises.

s we contemplate forcing parents to choose this or that vaccine, I think it’s important to remember that force is not consistent with the American story, nor is force consistent with the liberty our forefathers sought when they came to America,” said Paul, reading off a paper.

“I don't think you have to have one or the other, though. I'm not here to say don’t vaccinate your kids. If this hearing is for persuasion I’m all for the persuasion. I’ve vaccinated myself and I’ve vaccinated my kids. For myself and my children I believe that the benefits of vaccines greatly outweighing the risks, but I still don’t favor giving up on liberty for a false sense of security.”

Paul didn’t just make the case that vaccines should be voluntary, however. He used his platform at the hearing to affirmatively push the perception that they are potentially problematic.

“It is wrong to say that there are no risks to vaccines,” said Paul. “Even the government admits that children are sometimes injured by vaccines.”



https://www.thedailybeast.com/rand-paul-sure-vaccines-are-ok-but-we-shouldnt-trade-liberty-for-false-sense-of-security

[TwilightZone]

1. For a doctor, he can sure be an effing idiot.

Or he's pandering. Or both.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

16. He is not a REAL doctor.

[real Cannabis calm]

21. I don't know about that, but...

Isn't this REALLY about freedom?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

29. Freedom ? Really ???

So, I should be "free" to walk around with a highly contagious, and potentially lethal disease, exposing innocent people everywhere in my orbit, who may have complicated medical histories and could succumb to it because I should be "free" to make the choice to do so ?

Is that your point ?

Call me . . . a unicorn, but I believe that public health issues are far more important than just me. I see a much larger picture here where people should be "free" to go about their daily lives without being concerned about being exposed to highly transmissible, preventable, dangerous diseases. But then again, I'm not a selfish, self-absorbed tool of the conspiracy confirmation echo chamber.

[In It to Win It]

2. I disagree

[Initech]

3. Then Rand Paul should lose his medical license.

[RockRaven]

6. Did you know he set up an alternative ophthalmology certification board, certified himself and

a few dozen other people, let his ABO (the real ophthalmology board) certification lapse, but it doesn't matter because KY doesn't require board certification let alone a legitimate one? Also, this bogus board he created had himself, his wife, and his father-in-law as directors, and twice has been dissolved for not filing required paperwork with the state...

[Initech]

10. No, but does not surprise me!

[spanone]

4. I grew up in the fifties. Rand is a raging idiot.

[a kennedy]

5. WTF??? oh wait here we have a crossing party lines to build compliance

Robert Kennedy Jr, and his friend Rand Paul......

[TwilightZone]

7. And Jill Stein.

Guess that's a trifecta.

[a kennedy]

9. Exactly......

[gratuitous]

8. You're right, Sen. Paul, they shouldn't be mandatory

But unfortunately, we have a dedicated brigade of idiots working hard to ensure that preventable disease and death continue to ravage humanity. So unless a patient has some medically cognizable and certified condition that makes vaccination too risky, we need to make vaccination the default setting.

[DFW]

11. Senators from Kentucky shouldn't be mandatory, either.

But we're stuck with them, too. I feel his pain.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. Especially NOT those Senators! n/t

[DFW]

13. For example!

[milestogo]

14. Libertarians are basically incoherent.

[RobinA]

22. I Don't Find Them So

I am not one, but I find that Libertarians USUALLY have a fairly coherent stance about most things. No mandatory vaccination is a view I would expect from them. In general I think their worldview is untenable and kind of ridiculous. I don't think they'd like to live in the world they espouse, but incoherent? Not really.

[BostonBlue]

24. Calling yourself a "libertarian" and then voting for Christian Jihadists is incoherent

Every "libertarian" I've ever known votes GOP.

[manhattan123]

15. Math...

For any one good thing Paul occasionally does, like opposing Trump on the ridiculous emergency declaration, he does five stupid fucking things like this.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

17. Hey, Rand --

Come on out to Washington, and bring the kids.

We'll talk about vaccines.

And measles.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

18. rand paul is a fucking moron

Here's a good compromise:

If you choose not to vaccinate, you must isolate. Communities need immunity.

Don't want your kid vaccinated? Fine. You and the kid shall not come within 100 yards of any other human. (Or whatever distance -science- determines is sufficient to prevent you placing everyone else at risk).

Rand Paul obviously failed to be immunized against some virus, bacterium, or parasite that has rotted a significant portion of his brain.

[sakabatou]

19. Rand Paul is now pro-plague

[peggysue2]

20. Oh yes! Please preserve my liberty to die from . . .

polio. Or better yet be paralyzed in the aftermath.

I mentioned this before: my uncle contracted lumbar polio, lived in an iron lung for over 14 months. Since he was left with some lung capacity, he was taught how to breathe using his diaphragm. He was one of the lucky survivors, the fortunate few and would have--I have no doubts about this--a whole different slant on the issue from Rand Paul.

I mean, really. The entire argument is ridiculous. Maybe it's because too many people have no living memory of these diseases, how horrific and damaging they truly were. If you survived, that is.

We need to stop the stupid!

[Bettie]

23. Rand Paul is an idiot so this is

unsurprising.

He needs to shut his pie hole.

[DeltaLitProf]

25. These types always say "forced,"

. . . as if they'll go to jail for not vaccinating their children.

Nope. They'll only be prevented from coming to public schools and potentially infecting those few whose immunizations were not effective or are having a diminished effect.

[SWBTATTReg]

26. So Paul is advocating personal liberty over spreading illnesses to others? I ...

don't understand. So, because we need to preserve our liberties to do or not do anything, we can or not vaccinate people, and let the consequences occur, e.g., lots more people getting sick over easily avoidable diseases?

From what I understand, the literature that I have read always state that there is / are small possibilities of getting sick from a vaccine shot (it's always stated in the literature I see, and depending upon how the vaccine is made, one may need to go another path to getting the vaccine, e.g., allergic to eggs, etc.).

So, lets say that 1,000 parents out of 100,000 parents in a school district does not get their kids vaccinated (1% of the kids). An outbreak of measles occurs. Thus all of a sudden, over 2,500 kids, 2.5 kids per family unit (and probably more people than the kids will get sick), medical resources will be overstretched and strained in combating and providing care to these people when it could have been easily preventable, all for lack or desire of a relatively inexpensive vaccine. From what I see here, the liberties of quite a few people have been negatively impacted because some of these parents felt like their individual liberties were being negatively impacted by having the required vaccines.

Smart! (sarcasm)

[Johonny]

27. It's odd, he's for personal liberty in both health care and not vaccinating, but the consequences

of not vaccinating are shared by the community and not just the individual. Thus, it really isn't a personal liberty issue.

It will never be mandatory because there are always going to be some that can't vaccinate.

Anyway if an anti-vaxer gets you ill can you sue them for violating your personal liberty?

[Hekate]

28. Seems like that ferret on his head went rabid