by thenewgreen

Mr Paul, a Duke University-trained ophthalmologist, favours vaccination. But he questioned the wisdom of vaccinating infants and worried aloud about "tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines". Mr Paul earned a lot of flack for this remark, which flouts the medical consensus about the risks of vaccination. He tried to tamp down the controversy on Tuesday by inviting a reporter and photographer to watch him get a booster shot for Hepatitis A. "I think the science is clear that if you compare the risks of taking a vaccine to the ill effects of taking a vaccine, [the benefits of vaccinations are] overwhelming", he said at the photo-op, back-pedalling from his earlier remarks. The question of the risks of vaccination aside, Mr Paul maintains that voluntary vaccination has worked well in the past, and that the sudden efflorescence of formerly subdued communicable diseases ought to be met with greater public awareness of the benefits of vaccination.