South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg drew some backlash for his stance on mandatory vaccinations. Buzzfeed reported that Buttigieg supports states' rights to mandate vaccinations, but also supports "some exceptions." "The law of the land for more than a century has been that states may enforce mandatory vaccination for public safety to prevent the spread of a dangerous disease. Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent an outbreak," a spokesman for the South Bend mayor told Buzzfeed. The 37-year-old progressive listed personal/religious exemptions, but reiterated that there must be "no public health crisis" for the exemptions to be honored. "These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis," the spokesman added. Buttigieg's stance on vaccination exemptions caught some attention on social media. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The 2020 candidiate was starting to generate negative press on Tuesday night. Mediaite's headline read "Buttigieg fumbles badly on vaccinations." Buttigieg has since modified his stance, offering a "clarifying statement" to Buzzfeed late Tuesday night. "Pete believes vaccines are safe and effective and are necessary to maintaining public health. There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunized to protect their health. He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed," the spokesman said. Buzzfeed has been gathering the vaccination stances of all 2020 presidential candidates. Several candidates did not respond to Buzzfeed including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, former Obama HUD Secretary Julián Castro, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-HI.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Pete Buttigieg’s campaign sought to clarify the South Bend Mayor’s position on vaccines on Wednesday after an initial statement said the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate supported some religious and personal exemptions. Buttigieg’s initial statement drew criticism from Democratic activists and some journalists online, with some accusing the mayor’s campaign of standing with anti-vaccination proponents – also known as anti-vaxers – who choose not to vaccinate their children for a number of reasons. “Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency, to prevent an outbreak,” a spokesperson for Buttigieg told Buzzfeed News for a piece that published on Tuesday. “These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis.” But early on Wednesday, a spokesperson looked to clean up that statement by emphasizing “there is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe.” “Pete believes vaccines are safe and effective and are necessary to maintaining public health. There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunized to protect their health,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed.” Vaccinations have risen as a political issue in recent years as public health agencies have documented an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles. According to federal officials, there have been more than 700 cases of measles in the US this year. New York’s outbreak is approaching 7 months, making it the longest and largest outbreak in the US since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, according to the Center for Disease Control. President Donald Trump, who has been skeptical of vaccines at times, last week said, “They have to get the shots. The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now. They have to get their shots.” “Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism,” he claimed in 2012, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared that there is no link between vaccines and autism. He made a similar argument in 2014, tweeting, “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!” CNN’s Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Pete Buttigieg is said to have made a huge mistake this week when he “badly fumbled” a reporter’s question on vaccine policy. For a piece published Tuesday evening, BuzzFeed News sought answers from each 2020 presidential candidate on the following measles outbreak–related questions: What does each candidate believe about vaccines, what do they believe about a supposed link between vaccines and autism, and would they support an end to religious and personal belief exemptions when it comes to vaccination mandates? Buttigieg’s campaign issued the following response, according to BuzzFeed: Advertisement The law of the land for more than a century has been that states may enforce mandatory vaccination for public safety to prevent the spread of a dangerous disease. Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent an outbreak. These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Umm, that’s not how vaccination works, replied the People of the Internet. Is science not one of the 29 languages that you speak? Because your proposal is ill-informed, misguided, and impossible to enforce in real time. “This is super disappointing,” tweeted physician and New York Times writer Jennifer Gunter. “Essentially a disqualifier for me.” Advertisement The backlash was so strong that Buttigieg’s campaign walked back the statement several hours later. Shortly after midnight early Wednesday morning, BuzzFeed’s Claudia Koerner reported the following addendum: “[Buttigieg] is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions,” his campaign had told her. “He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed.” Now that everyone is safe and sound and vaccines have been paid their due respect, perhaps we ought to take a closer look at Buttigieg’s Big Mistake. Just how superdisappointing was his statement, really? Call me ill-informed, misguided, or even impossible to enforce, but I don’t believe the mayor really flubbed this answer. Buttigieg’s main mistake, I guess, was to say (before recanting) that he supports the provision of religious and personal exemptions to statewide vaccination rules for putting kids in school. That’s not really so outlandish. Just three state legislatures (California, Mississippi, and West Virginia) have banned the use of both religious and personal exemptions, while roughly half a dozen more have lately floated plans to do the same. If you’re living in any of the other four-fifths of the country, though, you may at the very least refuse vaccines for your children on the basis of “sincere and genuine religious beliefs,” now and presumably into the foreseeable future. It’s neither particularly ill-informed nor surprising for Buttigieg, or any other candidate for national office, to endorse this standard compromise between public health and people’s freedom of religion. Advertisement Advertisement It’s true the other kind of exemptions—the ones taken not for religious reasons but rather on the basis of someone’s personal (or “philosophical”) beliefs—are far more controversial. These are allowed in just 17 states, though they’re often cited as a contributor to the recent growth and spread of measles outbreaks. That link is far from clear: The majority of this year’s cases have occurred in New York state, which allows religious but not personal exemptions. And while the anti-vaxxer movement, as a whole, is often characterized in press reports as “a serious and growing public health time bomb,” there isn’t strong evidence for the claim that the use of personal exemptions has been blowing up. Even though one-third of the U.S. currently allows personal exemptions, the nation’s overall measles vaccination rate has remained pretty high and very stable for the past quarter-century, at 91 or 92 percent. One recent study found that the overall use of personal exemptions had been increasingly slowly for a time but that it has lately leveled off. As I noted back in February, there does not appear to be a strong correlation between the presence or absence of personal exemptions to a given state’s vaccination laws and that same state’s overall MMR vaccine coverage. Advertisement Advertisement If Buttigieg got his answer to the BuzzFeed question wrong, it’s only because he didn’t understand the test. Still, you might prefer—and I might prefer—that Buttigieg had come out against personal exemptions from the get-go, on the presumptive theory that they provide the legal loopholes most easily abused by anti-vaxxers. (Let’s ignore the fact that Mayor Pete, even if he were elected president, would have no sway over any of these local regulations.) Some may wish that Buttigieg had also originally argued that Americans’ near-ubiquitous right to claim religious exemptions from vaccination laws should be stripped away as well. It’s still bizarre that so many framed Buttigieg’s original, uncorrected take on vaccinations—that both religious and personal exemptions might be permitted as a rule, and then revoked in case of an emergency—as outlandish, anti-science, or absurd. On the contrary, it’s not so crazy to suggest that vaccination regulations (whatever they may be) could be tightened, on the fly, in response to sudden, local outbreaks of disease. That’s more or less how the laws are presently administered! Advertisement Take New York City, where the bulk of this year’s measles cases are turning up among Orthodox Jews. According to statistics cited by Politico, 99 percent of the city’s public-school students have been vaccinated, while just 0.25 percent have demurred on religious grounds. Most Orthodox Jewish schools have similarly high coverage rates, though there are specific pockets of anti-vaxxer sentiment and behavior among the Orthodox Jews in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s this vulnerable neighborhood, in particular, that has been at the center of the present crisis. Advertisement That’s why the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, in declaring a state of emergency last month, made vaccination compulsory for all children and adults in four ZIP codes in Williamsburg. Isn’t this just a version of the Buttigieg plan? A measles crisis had struck a local area with insufficient herd immunity, so Mayor Bill pulled a Mayor Pete: He overrode the religious exemptions and prescribed vaccines for everyone. Advertisement<doc-sep>As Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters off a back porch in Marshalltown, Iowa, the Devil was whispering his name. “Pete,” the Devil hissed into a microphone. “You’re sooo smart, Pete.” Buttigieg ignored the heckler, plowing forward with his stump speech about American decency as his husband ­Chasten looked on. “Pete,” the Devil whispered. “I want the heartland, Pete.” The man in the devil costume was Randall Terry, an antiabortion activist. He had traveled to Iowa to torment the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., the early breakout star of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. “There’s never been a poster boy for homo­sexuals” before, Terry says. “There’s never been a homosexual that you’d go, ‘Wow, I’d be proud of him.’ He’s the guy. That’s why he’s such a threat.” Four years after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed his right to marry, Buttigieg has become the first openly gay person to make a serious bid for the presidency. And Terry is hardly the only right-winger worried about the rise of “Mayor Pete.” Buttigieg’s saying that “God doesn’t have a political party” prompted evangelical leader Franklin Graham to tweet that being gay is “something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized.” Concerned by the campaign’s rise, right-wing provocateur Jacob Wohl was recently caught trying to fabricate sexual-­assault allegations against Buttigieg to slow him down. Mayor Peter Buttigieg photographed at home in South Bend, Ind. Ryan Pfluger for TIME But to some Americans, Buttigieg may just be the man to vanquish America’s demons. In a field of more than 20 ­candidates­—including six Senators, four Congressmen, two governors and a former Vice ­President—Buttigieg (pronounced Boot-edge-edge) has vaulted from near total obscurity toward the front of the Democratic pack, running ahead of or even with more established candidates and behind only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Buttigieg is a gay Episcopalian veteran in a party torn between identity politics and heartland appeals. He’s also a fresh face in a year when millennials are poised to become the largest eligible voting bloc. Many Democrats are hungry for generational change, and the two front runners are more than twice his age. Watch: How Mayor Pete Buttigieg became a surprise contender in the 2020 Democratic primary But Buttigieg’s greatest political asset may be his ear for languages. He speaks eight, including Norwegian and Arabic, but he’s particularly fluent in the dialect of the neglected industrial Midwest. Buttigieg is a master of redefinition, a translator for a party that has found it increasingly difficult to speak to the voters who elected President Donald Trump. The son of an English professor and a scholar of linguistics, he roots his campaign in an effort to reframe progressive ideas in conservative language. “If the substance of your ideas is progressive but there’s mistrust about them among conservatives, you have three choices,” Buttigieg tells TIME, sitting on his living-room couch in South Bend. “One is to just change your ideas and make them more conservative. The second is to sort of be sneaky and try to make it seem like your ideas are more conservative than they are. And the third, the approach that I favor, is to stick to your ideas, but explain why conservatives shouldn’t be afraid of them.” His platform is “Freedom, Security and Democracy,” which wouldn’t sound out of place coming from a Bush-era Republican yet actually harks back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But in order to maintain his momentum, Buttigieg will have to do more to flesh out those ideas. Unlike many of his opponents, he hasn’t posted any detailed policy proposals on his website. He’ll also have to convince Democratic voters that his experience running South Bend (pop. 102,245) is adequate preparation for running the world’s most powerful country. And he’ll have to make inroads with black and Hispanic voters who have so far appeared unimpressed with his campaign. Mayor Pete Buttigieg greets the overflow crowd of supporters waiting in the rain on April 14 outside his presidential campaign announcement in South Bend. Elliot Ross for TIME Buttigieg likes to say he has more government experience than Trump, and more military ­experience than any ­President in 25 years. And Trump’s victory in 2016 proved that many Americans were willing to elect a President without a traditional Washington résumé. But some voters long for stability after three years of chaos, and it’s not clear whether the Trump presidency has made it easier or harder for outsiders. The same assets that have propelled Buttigieg so far could ultimately thwart his rise. His youth is appealing to many voters, but it also means he’s green. The idea of electing the first gay President thrills liberals, but it also rallies opponents. As a white man, Buttigieg may appeal to more traditional voters, yet women and voters of color are the heart of the Democratic coalition. He’s running as a healer, not a fighter, at a moment when the party seems to be in a fighting mood. “As a woman of color, it’s very difficult for me to hear ‘We can unite across our differences,’” says Democratic operative Jess Morales Rocketto. “On one side you have people who want to live in a white-­supremacist country, and on the other side you have people dying at the hands of white supremacists.” In many ways, Buttigieg is Trump’s polar opposite: younger, dorkier, shorter, calmer and married to a man. His success may depend on whether Democrats want a fighter to match Trump, or whether Americans want to “change the channel,” as Buttigieg puts it. “People already have a leader who screams and yells,” he says. “How do you think that’s working out for us?” Supporters wait in the rain April 14 for Buttigieg’s presidential campaign announcement in South Bend. Elliot Ross for TIME On a Sunny Monday morning, Buttigieg is musing about redeeming American credibility abroad, sipping from his coffee mug emblazoned with JFK’s face, when his husband plops onto the living-room couch, picks up the blanket next to him and throws it on the floor in mock disgust. “Do we have to have this hideous blanket?” he said.<doc-sep>
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegThe Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Uber - One year later — has George Floyd's killing changed the world? Bipartisan infrastructure talks on life support Buttigieg acknowledges 'daylight' between White House, GOP on infrastructure MORE is under fire after his campaign told BuzzFeed News that he supports some exemptions from vaccinations based on personal and religious beliefs. "The law of the land for more than a century has been that states may enforce mandatory vaccination for public safety to prevent the spread of a dangerous disease. Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent an outbreak," a spokesperson for the South Bend, Ind., mayor told the outlet. ADVERTISEMENT Buttigieg’s representative said he supports medical exemptions as well as personal belief and religious exemptions granted the state is not facing a public health crisis. "These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis," the spokesperson said. After an outcry, Buttigieg's campaign added a “clarifying statement” on Wednesday morning, saying the candidate only supports medical exemptions. "Pete believes vaccines are safe and effective and are necessary to maintaining public health," the spokesperson said. "There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunized to protect their health. He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed." Buttigieg was criticized online over the remarks, and other Democrats in the race were quick to note their support for vaccinations. Apparently science is not one of the 29 languages he knows? — Shakira Kurosawa (@artboiled) May 1, 2019 The only exemption should be if a person isn't healthy enough to receive a vaccine. There is no herd immunity if people opt out just because they aren't feeling it. — M.M. Schill (@mm_schill) May 1, 2019 Personal and religious exemptions are what got us into this mess, @PeteButtigieg. Please be smarter about this. pic.twitter.com/EDa82ftbR7 — Jenn (@electricself) May 1, 2019 Nine Democratic candidates provided BuzzFeed News with responses on their stance to vaccines. A spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersSenate competitiveness bill includes B authorization for Bezos space company Sanders wants government to get 'piece' of US semiconductor companies in exchange for aid Poll: 51 percent oppose Sanders-led resolution to block weapons sales to Israel MORE (I-Vt.) told the outlet that Sanders believes “any exemptions should be rare and consistent with public health needs.” Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisBiden, Bass press for police reform after meeting Floyd family Biden, Harris condemn surge in antisemitic incidents Mexican president: FAA safety downgrade meant to benefit US carriers MORE’s (D-Calif.) campaign responded with a simple line: “She thinks people should get vaccines." All 50 states have legislation requiring specific vaccines for school-aged child but there were 17 states at the beginning of 2019 that allowed philosophical exemptions for those who object to immunizations for a personal or moral reason, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The modern anti-vaccine movement has persisted despite scientific research debunking the myth that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is linked to autism. Anti-vaccination activists have likened public health measures, like banning unvaccinated children from schools, to the Nazi persecution of Jews. A measles outbreak has hit 22 states this year, including Buttigieg’s home state of Indiana, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 704 individual cases reported as of April 26, the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated.