Rand Paul: Mandatory vaccines could lead to 'martial law'

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is widely believed to be considering a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, once said that mandatory vaccines could presage the imposition of "martial law," according to video unearthed by The Washington Free Beacon.

"You have to weigh the risks of the disease versus the risks of the vaccine," Paul says in the video from 2009. "But I'm not going to tell people who think it's a bad idea that they have to take it because everybody should be allowed to make their own health care decisions."

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.