Members of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board won’t say why on Tuesday they published an editorial criticizing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for comments on child vaccination but saying nothing about Sen. Rand Paul, who made similar remarks at the same time.
A recent outbreak of measles in the U.S. prompted public officials to start talking on the subject. Christie, while in the United Kingdom on Monday, said “parents need to have some measure of choice” on whether their children are vaccinated against spreadable diseases. Christie’s office later sought to clarify his meaning, issuing a statement that said, “with a disease like measles, there is no question kids should be vaccinated.”
In a separate interview on CNBC, Paul — who, like Christie, is a Republican — said he has “heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.” He said, “I’m not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think they are a good thing, but I think the parent should have some input.”
Despite the similarities between the comments, the Journal directed its fire squarely at Christie.
The conservative Journal compared President Obama favorably to Christie on the subject. The president said in a weekend interview with NBC that there’s “every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren’t any reasons to not.”
The Journal opined, “This sure beats Mr. Christie, who … offered a meandering meditation on parental rights…The real public health problem isn’t a lack of parental choice but a lack of common sense about vaccines, and politicians should do more to promote the latter.”
Several members of the board contacted by the Washington Examiner would not elaborate on the editorial.
“We don’t comment on the editorial process,” said one member. “We let the editorials do the talking.”
The Journal published a separate editorial on its website Tuesday night centered on Paul’s comments. Paul “will have to avoid these libertarian dormitory passions if he wants to be a credible candidate,” the editorial said.
