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Kaci Hickox, a returning Ebola volunteer who was quarantined at University Hospital in Newark in October, 2014, sees Governor Christie's remarks about parental choice for vaccines as further evidence he ignores medical experts when he sees fit.

Kaci Hickox, the fiery nurse who was the first returning Ebola worker to encounter Gov. Chris Christie's quarantine policy, said she sees his vaccine comments today as proof of his tendency to "spout off about things he doesn't know about."

The Maine nurse, who spent a long and contentious weekend at University Hospital in Newark last fall, said she heard of Christie's vaccine remarks from her lawyer, who told her, "Look who's opened his mouth again."

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Christie talked about the childhood vaccine issue while in England today, saying, "parents should weigh their options" when considering whether to have their children get vaccinated. His four children have received their vaccines, he indicated.

But he added that "not every vaccine is created equal" and that "there has to be balance and it depends on what the vaccine is and what the disease is, and the rest." The remarks were made when he was on a three-day trip to England.

Within hours, however, his remarks were clarified by his statehouse office.

"To be clear: The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should get vaccinated," said a statement released by his office on Twitter. "At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for a balance in which ones government should mandate.

Christie made his vaccine comments while responding to a reporter's question outside an American biotech firm he had toured while on a three-day trip to England.

Hickox said she sees echoes of her treatment in Christie's handling of the vaccine question.

"One of the things I keep seeing is it seems he really doesn't use his resources well. He's not a doctor or a public health expert, yet he feels entitled to spout off about things he doesn't know about," she said. "I want my public official to use science when making policy."

Hickox was returning from a volunteering stint with Doctors Without Borders last October when she landed at Newark Liberty International Airport just hours after Christie had changed the state's policy on travelers from West Africa.

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As one of those travelers, her temperature was taken with a non-contact thermometer, which revealed a slight fever. With fears of Ebola running high — earlier that week, two nurses in Texas had come down with the deadly fever — she was rushed by an EMT caravan to nearby University Hospital in Newark.

Once she arrived, however, a conventional thermometer showed she had no fever. But she was placed in an isolation tent within the hospital, where she remained for the next two-and-a-half days until her lawyers could negotiate her release.

Hickox, now in Yarmouth, Maine, training volunteer health care workers headed to Africa to help with the Ebola epidemic, sees a stark contradiction in Christie's approach to her case versus his thoughts on vaccines.

A measles outbreak that began at Disneyland has public health officials worried that the quiet increase in unvaccinated children has given the nearly eradicated disease an inroad into returning as a dangerous menace.

"In my case, we had an 'abundance of caution' when it was politically convenient," she said. "But in the case of vaccines, we know that by not vaccinating (your children) you're putting the entire community at risk — including the most vulnerable people in your community."

Babies as well as older children who are immune-suppressed should not be vaccinated, so those families must hope everyone around them has been vaccinated.

Hickox said she was not surprised his office moved to clarify his remarks. In her case, her lawyers got state officials to back down from their initial move to keep her hospitalized for the duration of her 21-day quarantine.

"I see this a lot with his sort of administration: a lot of back-peddling, because he makes comments about things he hasn't really thought through," she said. "That's a scary thing, to have a leader to who doesn't think twice about saying things who doesn't consider the science. That's not sound public health."