{"id":1056262,"date":"2025-09-26T17:09:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056262"},"modified":"2025-09-26T17:09:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:09:42","slug":"jack-ciattarelli-owes-new-jerseyans-answers-about-his-anti-vax-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/jack-ciattarelli-owes-new-jerseyans-answers-about-his-anti-vax-views\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Ciattarelli Owes New Jerseyans Answers About His Anti-Vax Views"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Last night, New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli took the stage at the NJ Public Health Innovation PAC\u2019s gala \u2014 an organization that has <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NJPHIPAC\/status\/1912478308387729759\">repeatedly<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NJPHIPAC\/status\/1912548178257408425\">pushed<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NJPHIPAC\/status\/1867681311269503408\">claims<\/a> that vaccines cause autism and other related conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a \u201cdistinguished guest,\u201d he shared the stage with someone who thinks COVID-19 vaccines could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2021\/06\/09\/sherri-tenpenny-magnetized-vaccine-ohio\/\">make people magnetic<\/a> and someone else who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/politics\/new-jersey\/jack-ciattarelli-vaccines-new-jersey-gala-20250924.html\">compared vaccine mandates to slavery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His appearance last night came as no surprise to those who know him best: Jack Ciattarelli has <a href=\"https:\/\/newjerseyglobe.com\/governor\/state-democrats-attack-ciattarelli-over-campaign-video-featuring-anti-vaccine-candidate\/\">long been associated<\/a> with anti-vaxxers and is an ardent defender of Trump\u2019s budget, which kicks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/how-will-the-2025-reconciliation-law-affect-the-uninsured-rate-in-each-state\/\">390,000<\/a> New Jerseyans off their health insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While he tried to flip-flop once again about how anti-vax he is, New Jerseyans deserve answers: what does Jack actually believe?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Read more below in the New York Times:&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/26\/nyregion\/jack-ciattarelli-new-jersey-vaccines.html\"><strong>New York Times<\/strong><\/a><strong>: As Immunization Rates Fall, Vaccine Skepticism Grows as a Wedge Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Tracey Tully, September 26, 2025]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mr. Ciattarelli was a featured guest at an event hosted by a group that has emerged as one of New Jersey\u2019s main opponents of mandatory vaccination.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The keynote speaker was a doctor who has falsely claimed that the Covid-19 vaccine magnetizes patients.<\/strong> (\u201cThey can put a key on their forehead. It sticks,\u201d the doctor, Sherri Tenpenny, testified in 2021 in Ohio. \u201cThey can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick.\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On Sunday, Mr. Ciattarelli, who is running for governor for the third time and has <strong>been endorsed by Mr. Trump<\/strong>, said, \u201cI support the vaccine schedule.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Earlier this month, however, in answering a question at a town hall, he said: <strong>\u201cI would never mandate a vaccine. That\u2019s up to you.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mr. Ciattarelli was interviewed by leaders of the Public Health Innovation PAC during the 2021 campaign.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cI\u2019ve always been about bodily autonomy,\u201d he said, according to the group\u2019s website. <strong>\u201cI don\u2019t think government has any right to tell any individuals that they have to take a vaccine or a medicine.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli took the stage at the NJ Public Health Innovation PAC\u2019s gala \u2014 an organization that has repeatedly pushed claims that vaccines cause autism and other related conspiracy theories. As a \u201cdistinguished guest,\u201d he shared the stage with someone who thinks COVID-19 vaccines could make people magnetic and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jack Ciattarelli Owes New Jerseyans Answers About His Anti-Vax Views - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/jack-ciattarelli-owes-new-jerseyans-answers-about-his-anti-vax-views\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-26T21:09:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-26T21:09:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/jack-ciattarelli-owes-new-jerseyans-answers-about-his-anti-vax-views\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/jack-ciattarelli-owes-new-jerseyans-answers-about-his-anti-vax-views\/\",\"name\":\"Jack Ciattarelli Owes New Jerseyans Answers About His Anti-Vax Views - 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