Christie causes stir with vaccination comments

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that parents should have a “measure of choice” in whether their children are vaccinated — remarks that appeared to break with President Barack Obama and public health officials worried about a measles outbreak.

“Mary Pat and I have had our children vaccinated, and we think that it’s an important part of being sure we protect their health and the public health,” the likely 2016 presidential candidate said while in Cambridge, England.


The Republican also noted: “I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that’s the balance that the government has to decide.”

Later Monday, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts sought to clarify the remarks.

“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 be vaccinated,” Roberts said in a statement. “At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate.”

On Sunday, Obama told NBC News in a Super Bowl pregame interview that the science behind vaccination is “pretty indisputable” and there are no reasons for parents not to have their children receive vaccinations.

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, in an exchange with a reporter on Twitter, soon after Christie’s remarks became public, said he hoped the New Jersey leader would “clarify” his comments because “it’s important that responsible leaders speak with one voice.”

Public health officials are trying to contain an outbreak of measles that began in southern California and has now reached 14 states — a problem they say is exacerbated by some parents declining to vaccinate their children.

Anti-vaccine parents argue that vaccinations pose a greater threat to their children than the diseases themselves, with some suggesting that the vaccines can lead to autism. But there is virtually no scientific evidence for such claims, doctors say.

Christie is on a three-day trade visit to the United Kingdom, his third international trip in his second term as governor. Last October, he broke with the White House in another public health matter by quarantining a nurse who had returned from West Africa and didn’t exhibit symptoms of Ebola, a decision that went against federal guidelines.