Facing a backlash over comments he made Monday about vaccinations and mental disorders, Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, got a booster vaccination for hepatitis A at the Capitol physician’s office and said Tuesday that the “science is clear” on the matter.
“It just annoys me that I’m being characterized as someone who’s against vaccines,” Mr. Paul said, according to The New York Times.
“There’s 400 headlines now that say ’Paul says vaccines cause mental disorders,’” he said. “That’s not what I said. I said I’ve heard of people who’ve had vaccines and they see a temporal association and they believe that.”
Speaking on CNBC Monday, Mr. Paul said that he has heard of “many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.”
Mr. Paul, an ophthalmologist, clarified that he believes science is definitive and vaccines are not harmful.
“I think the science is clear that if you compare the risks of taking a vaccine to the ill effects of taking a vaccine, it’s overwhelming,” he said.
Mr. Paul received the booster shot Tuesday after getting a vaccine last year before a trip to Guatemala.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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