Arizona Representative Kelly Townsend Calls "Mandatory Measles Vaccines" Communist

In the face of the measles outbreak in the United States, the number of cases The Arizona legislature recently passed legislation allowing religious exemption for mandatory vaccines – a move that public health advocates say could reduce the number of vaccinations. Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who describes himself as "pro-vaccination" and "anti-measles," hinted on Wednesday that he would cancel these proposals.

[Anti-vaxxers face backlash as measles cases surge]

But a state legislator begged to differ with the governor. Republican state representative, Kelly Townsend, five-term representative and accustomed to making controversial and bewildering statements on social media, went to Facebook on Thursday to lament that Arizona is " ready to give up our freedom, the very sovereignty of our society ". body, because of measles. "

Why? Because it would be "communist".

"I read yesterday that the idea is advanced that if the number of people vaccinated is not enough, we will force them to do it," Townsend wrote Thursday morning. "The idea of ​​forcing one to give up one's freedom on behalf of the collective is not based on American values, but rather on communism."

Townsend's suggestion that he is "communist" that the government is playing a role in "forced injection" of vaccines to children precipitated the latest wave of virulent criticism of the anti-vaccine movement in the middle of what is may have become the most emotionally charged public health debate today. .

"Wanted: A Vaccine to Protect Us from the Crazy Conspiracy Theories of Kelly Townsend's Communist Conspiracy," columnist Laurie Roberts tweeted.

A few hours later, faced with growing criticism, Townsend doubled his position in another position.

"The point here is not whether we should vaccinate or not, it's for another job," she wrote. "The point is whether your body is sovereign or if the government can force you to get injected against your will."

In an interview with The Washington Post, the Republican of Mesa, Arizona, said she recognized the many studies on the need for and safety of vaccines, but defended her right not to be vaccinated and to prevent his children from doing it. .

"My child may get hurt because of a vaccine and your child is potentially vulnerable if my son catches something," she told The Post. "Which child is the most important? Where is the line? "

Townsend's position goes against many years of overwhelming evidence from doctors, public health officials, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others that measles vaccine is safe and effective. As Washington Post's Lindsey Bever reported on Thursday, measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, nearly four decades after parents began vaccinating their children at a time when millions of people were contracting the disease each year . "The CDC data show that between 2000 and 2018, there was an average of 140 measles cases per year in the United States," Bever said. "And there have been three deaths reported during this period – one in 2002, one in 2003 and one in 2015."

But Townsend demanded that, instead of continuing to push for widespread vaccination against the disease, the government and the pharmaceutical industry instead invest in "discovering what these vaccines cause so many injuries".

"The problem is that something is in these vaccines," Townsend said.

Messages like Townsend are dangerous, recently warned federal health officials. "People who have read this information may not know it's wrong," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. "They may be well-intentioned, but spreading false information is a major problem."

Townsend says his opposition is rooted in his experience. The 22-year-old legislator's daughter suffers from significant medical problems she attributes to a vaccine she received at 10 months of age. She says that no scientific evidence will convince her of the opposite.

"All my life has been a fight and it's nothing compared to my daughter's fight, and that's due to the shots she received at 10 months," she said. "You can have 10-year-old daily items saying that vaccines do not hurt and I will not believe it because it happened to us."

Hundreds of Mesa critics and voters quickly reacted against his personal opposition to the practice and role of the government in this conversation. Friday morning, its publication on Facebook generated more than 600 reactions and more than 400 comments.

"I'm really sorry to hear about your child," wrote one voter who stressed his disagreement by citing scientific evidence demonstrating the benefits of vaccines. "There are incidents like these that are happening, but it's not widespread enough to say that the vaccine is not worth it."

"There is no evidence that vaccines cause physical harm to children," wrote another speaker.

Nevertheless, she found support, including an elector who wrote, "Exactly why you got my vote! And why our state will stay red! "

Those who know Townsend's honest personality recognize that his rhetoric is not extraordinary. According to the Arizona Republic, she was accused of stigmatizing addiction in an article published on Facebook in 2016 on celebrity deaths. Last month, Townsend, citing socialism, sponsored a bill banning teachers from expressing their political or religious beliefs in class, the Phoenix New Times reported.

Townsend ended his plea against communism and vaccinations on Facebook with a quote from Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up the essential freedom to buy some temporary security deserve neither freedom nor security."

Although Townsend later told The Post newspaper that Franklin was supposed to reflect his thoughts on the role of the government rather than his feelings about immunization, his use of his famous line on taxation and spending The defense is interesting, given the founding father's own story and his belief in childhood. vaccinations. As Franklin wrote in his autobiography of 1791, his son, Francis, who has not been vaccinated, died of smallpox at the age of 4 years. Franklin chose not to inoculate his son because of an illness that had weakened him, according to "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". great remorse for not vaccinating his son.

"I have long regretted bitterly, and I still regret not having given it by inoculation," he wrote at the time. "I speak of this in the interest of parents who omit this operation, assuming that they should never forgive a child who dies because of it; my example showing that regret can be the same in both directions and that, therefore, the safest should be chosen. "

Nevertheless, Townsend referred to American polymathy as a source of inspiration for his right to be exempted because of his personal beliefs.

"At what point are we saying," Is this ok for us because we do not want to get measles at some point? She asked. "To live in a free society, we must accept the risks."

She added, "That's what Benjamin Franklin was trying to say too."

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