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Imus: Christie On Vax/Autism |
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Chris Christie was invited on the Don Imus in the Morning show, on Thursday, October 29, 2009. Interspersed with a good deal of ribbing about his weight, Don grilled Chris on the subject of New Jersey's superfund sites, its stratospheric, highest-in-the-US incidence of autism, and the issue of vaccine mandates. Here is a transcript of the key Christie quotes:[Christie] "We need to look at all different the things affecting autism in New Jersey because we have the highest rate in the country. Not just the environmental concerns but vaccinations. Parents of children with autism need to be heard, they need a seat at the table to be talking about these issues. I met with a number of these parents, I've spoken to them about the awful time they've had. They need to have somebody who is going to them. And I'm going to listen to their concerns and try to make things better. But clean up the environment is one of the ways. Be more environmentaly sensitive in terms of the other toxins that we put into our environment. And also dealing with the vaccination issue is important..."[Christie] "Listen, I have real concerns about a lot of these [vaccine] mandates. I have to tell you, Don. In New Jersey, we need to take a whole look at that. It's a a real tough choice between protecting public health with vaccinations, but I've sat with a lot of parents of children with autism who absoultely firmly believe that it was vaccinations that caused these problems in their children and then they have additional children and they are being required to go in there and go through that again, when they in their heart and in their minds believe this was the contributing factor to their children's condition. I think we need... that's what i meant before by them having a seat at the table to talk about how we deal with these things, whether we can have some more opt-outs for parents who feel strongly about it. It's a complicated issue, it's a complicated public health issue, I understand that, but I do believe that these parents need a voice in these debates..."[Christie] "I have four children between six and sixteen. There is no more important decision we make than about their health and education and how they are going to grow up. And this is a big, big part of it. We have to let parents to have an ability to be able to be heard on these issues..."Don Imus in the Morning (click on NJ Gubernatorial Candidate on Environment)
Fox Business
October 29, 2009
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