WASHINGTON — Cases of measles are on the rise, and the debate on whether or not parents must immunize their children is heating up.
In the last few days, that debate has turned political, with several presidential aspirants speaking out — most notably Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and ophthalmologist.
He told several interviewers that most vaccines should be voluntary.
During an appearance on CNBC he elaborated further saying, “I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.”
His words were music to the ears of Barbara Loe Fisher, president and co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center — a non-profit advocacy group based in Sterling, Virginia.
“We have seen there are supporters of our vaccine choice positions from all parts of the political spectrum,” she says, adding, “it is a bipartisan issue.”
For decades, Fisher and her organization have campaigned for the kind of voluntary vaccination policy advocated by Rand Paul, which she calls it “the ethical principle of informed consent to medical risk taking.”
Her main concern these days is that parents who make the choice not to vaccinate are treated as villains by those worried those unvaccinated children might spread disease. Fisher says the whole situation has become ugly and it’s time “to take a deep breath and step back and take a look at some of the vaccine policy and safety issues that have not been addressed.”
But public health officials say concerns about the safety of the measles vaccine have been tackled by the scientific community, and the evidence is clear.
“We have a vaccine that is highly effective — the adverse events that were previously said to have been associated with the measles vaccine like autism have been proven to be completely discredited,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
He says he understands that some parents might be worried about hurting their children. But he adds that parents need to weigh the very tiny risk of a vaccine against the dangers of a disease like measles. In some cases measles can cause complications ranging from ear infections to inflammation of the brain and in rare cases death.
Fauci says “I don’t want to get into any debate with politicians — I just want to stick to the science.”
