Rand Paul: We can have modern medicine and freedom The value of vaccines is clear. But parents' authority over their children is as well.

Rand Paul | USATODAY

Ah, the tempest of a media maelstrom. Headlines claim falsely that I am against vaccines or say they cause disorders. Quite ironic, that the press called me anti-vaccine on the same day I received my booster vaccine for Hepatitis A.

In two interviews on the subject this week, I spent the bulk of my time defending vaccines as one of the greatest advancements in medicine. As a doctor, I am well aware of their need and effectiveness.

To me, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston's inoculation of his son with live smallpox was one of the most courageous acts in the history of medicine.

At the time, mortality rate for smallpox was around 50%. The vaccine though, required taking pus from a recovering patient, slitting the arm of the patient and inserting the pus. Overwhelmingly the physician community in Boston opposed vaccination. Mobs gathered outside Bolyston's house. Bricks were thrown through his windows, but he persevered and his son survived.

Like this column? Get more in your e-mail inbox

Within 60 years, George Washington would choose to vaccinate his wife and family before they could visit him in the war camps, where infectious disease killed more people than bullets did.

Not only do I not denounce vaccines, I have always been a proponent of them.

I have been vaccinated — after stepping on nails as a child, in college, in medical school, and six months ago in preparation for my medical mission to Guatemala. I received the booster vaccine just this week.

I chose to vaccinate my children, though I did exercise my parental prerogative to wait a while to vaccinate them against Hepatitis B, a sexually transmitted or blood borne disease, as I thought it unlikely they would catch it in their crib.

When I was at Baylor University, we had an outbreak of measles and I chose to get re- vaccinated. And when my kids entered college, they were vaccinated for meningitis.

I believe in vaccines. But I also believe in the doctors, parents and patients having a say in their healthcare.

For the past five years, many of us having been fighting against coercion and oppose the government intervening in our healthcare decisions. We have been fighting against mandates that come between the doctor and the patient. We believe parents hold authority over their children, not government.

It is possible to believe all of those things, whether or not the mainstream media chooses to believe it. Of course, their prejudice to supporting government power over freedom becomes quite evident at moments like this.

Interestingly, they are acting like this parental choice isn't already the law — but it actually is in 48 states. People are encouraged to vaccinate, and they are asked to show vaccination records to attend school.

But 50 states also have medical exemptions and 48 states have religious exemptions in their laws for parents who wish to choose otherwise.

We should try for honest debates in this country, something that is missing when things are misreported or poorly understood by those writing about them.

I support vaccines. As a doctor, I stand firmly with modern medicine.

I also stand for freedom and for parents over government power.

Rand Paul is a Republican Senator from Kentucky.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page or sign up for the daily Opinion e-mail newsletter.



