Washington’s hand-picked candidate has history of problematic votes on life-saving vaccines
Today, Congressman Peter King (NY-02) jumped on the Washington Republican bandwagon and endorsed anti-vaxxer congressional candidate Nicole Malliotakis. King even called Malliotakis, a candidate in the 11th District, “thoughtful,” just the week after she admitted she hasn’t “really thought about” New York’s deadly measles outbreak.
Malliotakis has a history of bad votes on vaccinations in the state legislature: she voted against requiring meningococcal vaccinations, even after a New York teenager died from meningitis, and she was also only one of four to vote against a bipartisan vaccine workgroup. Either Malliotakis isn’t being honest about never having considered this critical issue, or she took harmful votes against the health of New Yorkers without thinking it through. Which of these irresponsible approaches won Peter King’s endorsement?
King must be excited to get behind Malliotakis because of his own abysmal record on health care. Earlier this year, King voted to back a lawsuit that would take away health care protections from 314,600 New Yorkers with pre-existing conditions, and just last week, King voted against a bill to enhance those protections – not to mention his many votes over the years to repeal health care reforms, and attempts to hide his record.
“Congressman Peter King’s endorsed candidate Nicole Malliotakis has a history of being anti-vaccine, even as New York suffers its worst measles outbreak in decades,” said DCCC Spokesperson Christine Bennett. “Everyone knows diseases like measles and meningitis are both deadly and preventable, but Nicole Malliotakis has repeatedly taken the side of conspiracy theorists rather than medical experts. The fact that Peter King, who has repeatedly voted to raise the cost of health care and prescription drugs, has backed Malliotakis tells you everything you need to know about their Washington agenda of putting party over public health.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the measles outbreak in New York drove another increase across the U.S. in an already historically bad year for the disease. A whopping 82 percent of the measles cases in the U.S. are currently in New York. It’s time for Malliotakis and King to get serious about the health crisis plaguing New York right now.
BACKGROUND
2015: Malliotakis Voted Against Requiring Certain Parents To Vaccinate Their Children Against Meningococcal Disease. On June 17, 2015, Malliotakis voted “no” on S04324, a bill that required certain parents to ensure the immunization of their children against meningococcal disease. [New York State Assembly, S04324, 6/17/2015; LegiScan, Senate Bill 4324, accessed 5/9/2019]
2014: Malliotakis Was One Of Only Four Members To Vote Against Creating 21st Century Workgroup To Study Potential Human Vaccines For Tuberculosis, Lyme Disease, And HIV. On June 2, 2014, Malliotakis voted “no” on A00829, a bill to create a “21st Century Workgroup For Disease Elimination And Reduction” and would direct the study of the severity, frequency of occurrence, likelihood of recurrence, existing animal vaccines and potential human vaccines for tuberculosis, eastern equine encephalitis virus, Lyme disease, HIV and others. The bill passed the Assembly 126 to 4 and was signed into law on December 17, 2014. [New York State Assembly, A00829, 6/2/2014]
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