Pro-Plague AZ GOP Lawmaker Says Requiring a Measles Vaccine is “Communist”

Arizona State Rep. Kelly Townsend says that making people get vaccinated is what Communists do.

Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, recently said he would veto any bills that might lower vaccination rates in his state, a wise move given all the outbreaks of measles lately. There are currently three such bills that could reach his desk, all of which passed through a House Committee on party line votes. Good on him for siding with science instead of Republican conspiracy theories.

But Townsend thinks his anti-plague rhetoric is un-American, as she explained in a Facebook post yesterday:

Dearest friends and people of Arizona, it seems we are prepared to give up our liberty, the very sovereignty of our body, because of measles. I read yesterday that the idea is being floated that if not enough people get vaccinated, then we are going to force them to. The idea that we force someone to give up their liberty for the sake of the collective is not based on American values but rather, Communist.

…

And finally, I am going to demand, as a mother of an injured child from her vaccines, that we insist that we spend the time and money on discovering what in these vaccines is causing so much injury, instead of insisting on taking your liberty in the name of the collective.

…

Live free or die,
Rep. Kelly Townsend

She later explained her insanity to the Washington Post:

“My child is at risk from being injured from a vaccine, and your child is potentially at risk if my son catches something,” she told The Post. “Whose child is more important? Where’s the line?”

My child. My child is more important. Your child is at risk of imaginary bullshit. My child is at risk of your stupidity. Jesus, that’s an easy question…

“The problem is something is in those vaccines,” Townsend said.

She’s right. Those vaccines don’t have a potent enough cure for Jenny McCarthyism.

She later explained her irrational belief that vaccines caused her kid’s problems:

Townsend says her opposition is rooted in her experience. The legislator’s 22-year-old daughter has significant medical problems that she blames on a vaccine she received when she was 10 months old. She says no scientific evidence will convince her otherwise.

“My entire life has been a struggle, and it’s been nothing compared to my daughter’s struggle, and it’s been due to the shots she got at 10 months old,” she said. “You can have 10 years’ worth of daily articles saying vaccines do no harm and I won’t believe it because it happened to us.”

I can sympathize with any parent searching for an explanation when their child has medical problems. Of course she’s looking for something or someone to blame. But her solution — which has no scientific basis and which she’ll never not believe — is going to hurt more children.

What sort of despicable politician says, My child struggled through childhood, so I’m going to make sure all of yours do as well?

People who don’t understand science shouldn’t be getting in the way of everyone who does. Townsend is only a symptom here; much of the GOP shares her view that vaccines are a problem instead of a solution. Their ignorance is going to get children killed.

Again, credit to Gov. Ducey for saying he would veto these bills. He cares about children far more than she does.

(Screenshot via YouTube. Thanks to Scott for the link)