[Tapper:] Welcome back to THE LEAD. The National Lead, the growing measles outbreak has now hit a California daycare center forcing more than a dozen infants into quarantine. A baby who attends that day care who was too young to get vaccinated contracted the disease. And now the child care center has shut down all infant classes indefinitely over fears that other babies were exposed to the potentially fatal disease. This is in Santa Monica School District where 11 percent of students have not been immunized contrary to medical advice because their parents opted out. We are seeing more and more likely 2016 presidential hopefuls come forward with their thoughts on whether parents should be forced to get their kids vaccinated. Hillary Clinton tweeted, "The science is clear. The earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work. Let's protect all our kids. #Grandmothersknowbest. And it turns out Clinton stamp seems to be in step with a well-known conservative who just might be running against here in the race for the White House. Let's bring in Dr. Ben Carson. He's the former director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He's also author of a new book "You Have A Brain, A Teens to Think Big." Dr. Carson, as always, thank you so much for joining us. I want to get to the book, which I enjoyed a lot in a second, but I do want to make sure I understand your position on vaccinations for children. You told Buzzfeed yesterday, quote, "We should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them." So just to clarify no exemptions unless there is a health reason, how would you enforce that?
[Dr. Ben Carson, Former Director Of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital:] We already have policies in place at schools that require immunization records and things of that nature. What we have to recognize is that a lot of people are put off when they hear the word government force. And you know, perhaps there's a better way to put these things but the fact of the matter is, studies have shown us over the course of time that the benefit, the risk ratio for vaccination is way in the favor of doing it as opposed to not doing it.
[Tapper:] No, I'm the child of a pediatrician and a pediatric nurse, I'm with you, but it does seem like your statements are kind of contrary to what we are hearing from a lot of your fellow potential Republican hopefuls. Republican Senator Rand Paul said yesterday that many vaccines should be voluntary and he said he has heard of many cases of people getting, quote, "mental disorders" after being immunized. You're a doctor. Is there evidence to back up the senator's claims?
[Carson:] Well, I listened to what he said and I think perhaps it's not exactly being portrayed the way he meant it. You know, if you were to talk to him, I'm sure he would tell you that vaccines are very, very important and have made a tremendous difference in our society. It's a public health issue and I'm sure he would be very supportive of him. He's simply saying we don't want to be forced. We want to have some choice. And I think there are ways to do this in a reasonable and rational way that involved educating the populous. There were a lot of myths going around about vaccinations causing autism and other types of things. These have been dispelled. We know better now. So you know, a lot of people haven't gotten that information. We need to make sure we make that available to everyone.
[Tapper:] But Dr. Carson, isn't exactly what we're seeing in California right now, this measles outbreak, isn't this because the people in California have been given the option of opting out and they have a whole bunch of misinformation. And now we have an infant who has the measles disease? Isn't this a perfect example of what happens when you don't mandate it?
[Carson:] Well, it is a good example of what happens. These are things that we had under control. We have to account for the fact that we now have people coming into the country sometimes undocumented people who perhaps have diseases that we had under control. So now we need to be doubly vigilant about making sure that we immunize our people to keep them from getting diseases that once were under control.
[Tapper:] All right, I want to turn to your book. Really interesting and a lot of information even though I thought I knew a lot about you, there is some information I didn't and that the viewers might not know. You write about a very interesting moment when your mother sat you and your brother down and told you that your father had been kicked out of the house. You found out later that he had been leading a double life. He had a whole other family. What effect do you think that experience had on you and what lesson are you trying to give to teens with this story?
[Carson:] Well, it was devastating. I had had a very different impression of who my father was and my mother finally sat us down and told us what the real story was. It gave me a much better appreciate because she never went around bad mouthing him and trying to force him to do things. He didn't want to pay child support. She said the heck with him. I'll just go and work two or three jobs. I will make it on my own somehow. So it gave us a lot more perspective on not allowing yourself to be a victim of circumstances.
[Tapper:] You also write about the importance of honesty in your book, you have a chapter called "Honesty" and one of the lessons you were able to demonstrate it in a dramatic fashion came when a Florida woman falsely, falsely accused you of fathering her child even going so far as to file a claim against you in court, how did honesty help you out of that situation?
[Carson:] Well, it helped me in the sense that a lot of people assume that someone who has a high profile like me, who is out and about all over the place constantly probably has been messing around. Probably doesn't even remember all the people they have been messing around with and therefore they will probably go ahead and shell out the money rather than have their reputation sullied. It helped me in the sense that I knew that here was only one woman I had ever slept with in my whole life and that is my wife. I didn't have to scratch my head and say, gosh, was there a time when I was on CNN, and I don't know. I didn't have to do that at all.
[Tapper:] Dr. Ben Carson, thank you so much. The book is very enjoyable. It's called "You Have A Brain A Teen's Guide To Think Big," thank you so much. Hope to see you again soon.
[Carson:] Always a pleasure.
[Tapper:] Coming up, it has been 55 years since her one and only book to kill a mocking bird was published and now Harper Lee is finally ready to release her second novel. Why now? That's next.