A quote from Michele Bachmann regarding her reporting that the HPV vaccine has "very significant consequences" based on a distraught mother who believes the HPV vaccine caused her child to become mentally retarded. The implication here is that Bachmann believes that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation or at least something as severe. When asked about this on a conservative talk show (starts around 8:30), Bachmann says:
I have no idea. ... All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me last night at the debate.
I think this sums up Bachmann's approach quite well: find one person who will say something and portray it as truth. Bachmann then says that we should have an opt-in policy for vaccines rather than opt-out which displays a clear lack of understanding of how many public health interventions work, i.e. by stopping the spread of a disease.

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Published

15 September 2011

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