GOP 2016 Presidential Hopefuls have varying Views on Mandatory Vaccines

Top Republican lawmakers on Tuesday strongly backed routine vaccination of children against deadly diseases, marking a shift in the political debate that has erupted around a multistate measles outbreak.

An estimated 102 measles cases in 14 states have been tied to an outbreak that began at a Disneyland Resort in California in December. Experts say this doesn’t present a risk of measles spreading nationwide, because the vast majority of Americans are vaccinated against it. And the outbreak isn’t even the largest in the U.S. in recent years.

But its widespread nature and origin at a popular theme park have drawn public attention to vaccination policies—and to the opposition to vaccines in some pockets of the country.

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Although some GOP lawmakers question whether vaccines should be required, Americans’ views on vaccinations don’t fall cleanly along party lines. Some liberals eschew vaccination out of perceived health concerns.

The fact measles had been considered virtually eliminated in the U.S. means most parents don’t realize the disease can be dangerous or even deadly, experts say.

GOP presidential hopefuls on Tuesday left the most vocal Republican opponent of vaccine requirements, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul , standing virtually alone before he recast his remarks.

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