New York Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R)

Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, the establishment favorite in the race to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Max Rose, has revealed herself to be both startlingly ignorant of major issues and bizarrely sympathetic to anti-vaxxers … but we repeat ourselves.

For a new piece (with some very enjoyable quotes!) framing the battle over New York's 11th District as a "bellwether" of GOP hopes for taking back the House, BuzzFeed's Alexis Levinson also asked Rose, Malliotakis, and former Rep. Mike Grimm about their views on mandatory vaccination—a topic of paramount local importance given the record-smashing measles outbreak that's centered in Brooklyn.

Rose and even Grimm were fully in support of mandatory immunization, but Malliotakis' comments were something else. After first complaining to Levinson that her query was "like, a random question"—note that the 11th District includes a section of Brooklyn—Malliotakis stammered, "I haven't really thought about—I mean, I'm more for vaccinations than not."

More for vaccinations than not! We're in the middle of a major health crisis, with schools getting closed and new cases being reported daily, and yet a public official is giving aid and comfort to those who oppose the only way to prevent illness and death. What's more, Borough Park, which is one of two main sites where the epidemic has raged, is literally next door to Bay Ridge, which is not only part of the 11th District but also represented by Malliotakis herself in the Assembly. She might want to start paying a little more attention to her own backyard—and come down on the side of saving lives.