House Republicans urge measles vaccination at hearing
House Republicans allied themselves definitively on the side of public health at a hearing Tuesday, breaking from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paulâs claim that vaccines can cause mental disorders in children. âThere is no credible evidence to support that claim,â Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy said in his opening statement at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, noting that âfalse rumors still exist.â Story Continued Below The hearing, although convened to discuss this yearâs influenza vaccine, repeatedly addressed the major measles outbreak that has grown to 102 cases in 14 states. A panel of expert witnesses echoed Murphyâs declaration, responding immediately and strongly in the affirmative when asked whether parents should vaccinate their children. Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called it âa slam dunk,â describing measles as a highly contagious disease and the shot to protect against it âone of the most highly effective vaccines against any virus.â The comments by Murphy were in stark contrast with remarks Monday by Paul, an eye doctor, that heâd heard âof many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.â Murphy, a Ph.D. child psychologist, noted that mercury is not used as a preservative in the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine â the source of initial concerns in the late 1990s about an autism link. The study identifying a connection has since been discredited as fraudulent research. Just as House Speaker John Boehner did at a morning news conference, when he said that âall children ought to be vaccinated,â other Republicans on the panel distanced themselves from Paulâs contention. Rep. Bill Flores of Texas said he was âbaffledâ by a relativeâs refusal to get her children vaccinated. âI hope sheâs listeningâ to the discussion, he said. Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon, whoâs also a physician, recommended immunization and volunteered that all of his children are vaccinated. And Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, another doctor, made an outright plea to parents. âPlease have your children vaccinated,â urged Burgess, noting that heâd had the measles years ago â before protection was available â and that it was a painful disease. He said immunization is and should be state-level policy, but that a state mandate is no less important than a federal requirement. Murphy said he hoped the platform could also be used to educate the public about the overall importance of vaccines to public health. Several Democratic committee members are pressing its leadership for a hearing devoted specifically to the still-expanding measles outbreak. Both Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rep Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) criticized Paulâs comments without calling him out by name. Schakowsky said it was âdisturbingâ that a number of high-profile politicians have weighed in on the vaccine conversation âin a negative way.â And the comparison was made to the publicâs fears and expectations when the polio vaccine was introduced in the 1950s â after decades of severe illness, paralysis or death for many Americans. One lawmaker asked if the government mandated that people get the vaccine. âYou didnât need to mandate polio vaccine,â replied Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People were âlining upâ to get it.