400 headlines later, you might think Sen. Rand Paul is against vaccines. Take one look at the photo below. However, this isn’t about being a part of or against the anti-vaccine movement.This particular vaccine debate isn’t about the science; it’s about personal choice.

As Aaron Blake over on The Washington Post reiterates, most if not everyone is missing what this vaccine debate is really about: should vaccinations be mandated? Not whether or not they work.

Ironic: Today I am getting my booster vaccine. Wonder how the liberal media will misreport this? pic.twitter.com/1vSqwfBp5u

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) February 3, 2015

It’s easy to get lost. We’re talking about our kids. We’re talking about disease. This not only involves the communities we live in but, most importantly, our freedom to choose how we live.

Other politicos have tossed in their hat supporting vaccinations, even Hillary Clinton, but she certainly didn’t throw out a tweet saying that vaccinations should be mandated.

Do we really need more government involvement? How much confidence did you have in the government when swine flu was a big flashing red headline?

I don’t know which side of the line you are, pro or anti, just remember one thing: No one is persuaded when you call them an idiot.

If people call me selfish and dumb, it doesn’t make me more open-minded, and I don’t know why anyone would think otherwise in this case. I think it’s really short-sighted,” Dr. Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth University told NBC News. “People enjoy lashing out at anti-vaccine folks, (but) it turns into an ‘us versus them’ thing.”

Or as Dr. Ben Carson puts it, while backing up Rand Paul on the John Gibson Show:

“I can’t imagine advocating that people who are living amongst others in our society would simply allow disease to spread because they have a philosophical disagreement.”

Rand Paul was definitely at the forefront of the vaccine debate this week. Whatever people may think, he still checked in at the doctor’s for a booster. But that was his choice, not the government’s. Share your thoughts on the vaccine debate on Twitter or Facebook. Should vaccines be mandated?

(Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District, Flickr CC BY 2.0)

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