Governor Chris Christie joined the national conversation on vaccines by taking a pro-choice stance to vaccination on Monday. Christie, when asked about vaccines and how to best handle the increasing outbreak of measles in the United States, responded with the assurance that his own children have all been vaccinated. However he quickly followed with a statement leaning towards voluntary vaccinations, describing that parents need to have a certain level of opportunity to choose vaccines their children should be exposed to. He said that he also understands that parents need to have choices in things, and it is up to the government to find that balance.

Christie was on a laboratory tour in Cambridge run by MedImmune when he explained his take on the vaccine debate. MedImmune is a biotech company that develops vaccines including FluMist, a nasal spray that immunizes against influenza. After his initial comments, the New Jersey Governor clarified his stance, saying that he believes the parental concern is critical because none care about anything more than protecting the health of their own child. Christie continues on to speculate with his view on scientific knowledge of vaccines, calling for a shift in the argument from disease type, as vaccines are not created equal and not every type of disease type is as big a threat to the public as some other.

As of Feb. 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 102 people in 14 states have become infected with measles, the extremely contagious virus that is scientifically considered vaccine-preventable. The outbreak began when an individual from overseas visited a popular amusement park and spread the disease to others. “This is not a problem with the measles vaccine not working, this is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used.” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, clarified in a news conference Thursday.

To explain the governor’s earlier comments, a Christie spokesman issued a statement about four hours after Governor Christie spoke to reporters at MedImmune. The governor believes vaccination is a powerful tool for public health protection, “at the same time, different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate.”

The argument over the safety of vaccines is no longer a debate, according to scientific studies done by the Institute of Medicine and others. To these minds it is clear that there is no link between autism and the vaccination of children. Vaccines are routinely opted out of due to medical, religious or philosophical reasons. Recently, many more people and families have chosen to opt-out of vaccines for philosophical reasons.

President Obama said “I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations.” when asked a similar question about measles vaccinations on Sunday, “The science is, you know, pretty indisputable.”