Sen. Ted Cruz defended Chris Christie in the wake of comments the governor made about allowing parents to make their own decision on vaccines.

On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the Texas Senator dismissed the controversy, telling reporters that it was “largely silliness stirred up by the media.”

“Nobody reasonably thinks Chris Christie is opposed to vaccinating kids other than a bunch of reporters who want to write headlines,” Cruz tells Politico.

Cruz explained that he had vaccinated his own children and thinks other parents should do the same.

“We’ve got two little girls, we’ve vaccinated both our girls and would encourage people to do the same,” he said.

The New Jersey governor had told reporters parents should be allowed “some measure of choice” about vaccinating their children, clarifying later in a statement that “there is no question kids should be vaccinated.”