Rep. Michael Burgess says if there’s any childhood ailment he remembers, it’s measles.
“I don’t remember every scraped knee from childhood, but I do remember measles,” the Texas Republican said Tuesday at a House hearing on the flu vaccine, where members also brought up the recent measles outbreak.
“It was bad … the chills are so hard they’re painful,” said Burgess, who is an OB-GYN.
Some potential 2016 presidential contenders have recently suggested parents, not the government, should get to decide whether their children receive vaccinations for measles and other highly contagious diseases.
But Burgess, who is known as a conservative member of Congress, said states should be able to mandate vaccines and urged parents to ensure their kids are vaccinated.
“For people listening, please have your children vaccinated,” he said.
The hearing was originally slated to focus on problems with this year’s flu vaccine. But it was also peppered with references to the measles outbreak, as members asked top health officials to weigh in on the issue.
“Many are choosing not to vaccinate against the flu because they hear the vaccine doesn’t work, so why bother,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee.
“We’re seeing a similar result with measles vaccinations but for very different reasons, and now we’re paying the piper, as more than 100 have been stricken with a disease of measles that had once been eradicated from our shores,” he said.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, also waded in Tuesday, saying all children should be vaccinated against preventable diseases. “I don’t know that we need another [federal] law, but I do believe all children ought to be vaccinated,” he said.
