Boehner: All children should be vaccinated

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that all children should be vaccinated against preventable diseases, a day after two likely GOP presidential hopefuls suggested that the decision should be left up to parents.

“I don’t know that we need another [federal] law, but I do believe all children ought to be vaccinated,” Boehner, the father of two daughters, said at a news conference at the Republican National Committee.

{mosads}On Monday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an ophthalmologist, said parents should have a choice about whether to vaccinate, saying he had seen cases where certain vaccinations had caused mental disorders in children.

“The state doesn’t own your children,” Paul said in an interview on CNBC. “Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom and public health.”

Earlier, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another prospective GOP White House candidate, said parents should have some choice in deciding whether to vaccinate their children, though his office later clarified children should be vaccinated for measles.

Their comments came in the wake of a measles outbreak that infected more than 100 children across 14 states.