Dr. Bob Sears Letter to CA Senators RE SB277
This post is from Dr. Bob Sears' Facebook page.
DR. BOB'S DAILY:
ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH
I'm tired of flying up to Sacramento. And why Sacramento anyway? Who puts the state capitol that far away from the majority of the population? Anyway, I'll see you all on Wednesday, again. Sigh.
Here's a letter I wrote to a couple of Senators. Feel free to send it to all of them, or at least to your own Senators.
Hello. My name is Dr. Bob Sears. I am a pediatrician in Orange County, CA. I have lived and worked there for 20 years. My reason for contacting you is to open up a dialogue for you to get an opinion outside of your normal circles of influence in the medical arena regarding SB277. I oppose this bill and would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.
I imagine you've spoken at length with other physicians. What makes me unique is that I am among only a couple handfuls of doctors in southern California who approach vaccines in a different manner than most by giving them more gradually, spread out over a longer period of time instead of grouping so many together during young infancy. But give them I do. I give vaccines every single day in my office. I am pro-vaccine and understand that vaccines work and have reduced and eliminated many serious diseases. And that's not just spouting a party line - I firmly believe that, and that's why I give them in my office.
I would like to introduce you to the single primary reason that I'm reaching out (because I know there are dozens of different issues we could discuss). It is this: I want to consider the practical implications of how life will be for Californian families if SB277 moves forward and eventually passes.
I feel that I am in a unique position to understand this better than most physicians because this is the primary focus of my practice. Virtually all pediatricians, including our colleague Dr. Pan, fully vaccinate all of their patients. And they, fortunately, only see a few severe vaccine reactions since they are somewhat rare, and they accept those reactions when they happen as an unfortunate and unavoidable effect of the vaccination process. I can be thankful that very severe reactions are uncommon enough that they don't feel like a significant risk. Those infants and children who suffer an extremely severe, life-threatening reaction obviously would become exempt from further vaccines because we can all agree that such risk would be much greater for that individual child than the benefit provided by further vaccinations.
But, allow me to introduce to you two serious additional aspects to this equation that most doctors don't consider:
1. When a severe, life-threatening reaction occurs after a vaccine, both parties agree that that particular vaccine shouldn't be repeated, and a medical exemption would be granted. BUT, most doctors would want all the other vaccines to continue. If several vaccines were given together, most doctors would attribute the bad reaction to one of the most suspect vaccines (such as DTaP and MMR, two which seem to cause more reactions), and want to continue all the other vaccines that were given that same day.
So here is the first crux of the problem: Many parents in this scenario would want to stop all vaccines, but most doctors wouldn't agree and would want to limit a medical exemption to one vaccine. If the primary doctor who handled the case doesn't agree to exemption, the parent has to find another doctor to review the case, and I know for a fact it is almost impossible for parents to find an uninvolved doctor to then provide such as exemption.
Doctors like myself can certainly consult with such families, yet there are only a few like me. State-wide, families across CA don't have such access.
2. But there's another side to this, a side which is even MORE significant. It is those children who suffer a moderately severe reaction to vaccines (as opposed to the extremely severe ones discussed above), and the parents don't want to proceed, yet the doctor does not believe the reaction was severe enough. These reactions are NOT uncommon. I see them almost every month in my office. Reactions such as brief seizures or tremors, high fever for several days with either lethargy or extreme irritability, poor feeding and extreme sleepiness, sudden onset of severe eczema, sudden symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and others. Some parents describe how their infant seems to "shut down" for several days to a week after vaccines. These kids do recover, fortunately, yet the decision then has to be made whether or not to proceed with the next round of shots two months later.
And this is the second crux of what I would ask you to understand. Pediatricians simply won't give medical exemptions for these reactions. That is because the medical community at large believes so firmly that all vaccines are critical and must be given no matter what. And the only exception is a prior severe, life-threatening reaction (or severe immune compromise due to cancer or chemotherapy).
I might grant exemptions on a case by case basis after careful consideration of all the implications, but those doctors like me are only a few. We can't serve the whole state.
I remember one of the Senators making a statement to this end in Wednesday's hearing. He said patients can seek out doctors like me and get an exemption. Well, doctors like me have to be careful with our licenses. And we have to be honest. And since we don't witness the actual reaction when new patients come to us for this second opinion, we have to go simply based on the parent's story. Can I also share that virtually no doctors write down such reactions in their medical records, so we can't even review those to get to the truth.
Dr. Pan stated in the hearing that he would expect doctors to only give appropriate exemptions. In other words, only exempt those kids who had an extremely severe, life-threatening reaction. Those with moderately severe reactions that were not life-threatening would not be exempt.
3. Sorry, just remembered one more crux: Family history of severe auto-immune problems, prior severe vaccine reactions in a parent or in a previous child, and families who have been affected by neuro-developmental disorders. Many of these families don't want vaccines, yet their circumstances do not warrant exemption. So they are coerced into vaccinating against their wishes if they want their children to participate in a school-based childhood. Even parents who watched their first baby suffer a serious, life-threatening reaction, must vaccinate their second if they want to attend school.
As for autism alone, I know there are about 2 million children living with autism in the U.S. How many in CA? I don't know for sure. A 2011 CA Department of Education report stated 1% of children in CA public schools have autism. If we estimate about 6 million public school kids, then there are about 60,000 with autism. Many of these families don't want more vaccines. Yet, without them, they cannot get school-based therapy or Regional Center based therapy in any setting with other kids. They will be left to exist at home and at home only. Parents can't afford that. And these kids don't deserve that. They deserve a life. And since medical science has not shown any link between vaccines and autism according to most mainstream studies, these kids are the last ones for whom a doctor is going to write a medical exemption.
One might think that a solution to this problem is to write guidelines into the bill which specify what constitutes a medical exemption. That is a pandora's box. That would open up an enormous debate about the medicine and science of vaccine reactions that is too complex to try to work into a bill. I appreciate that this aspect of the decision is put into the hands of each patient's physician and is done on a case-by-case basis, not done with a legal checklist. To try to create written guidelines on such would seal the fate of many because such written guidelines would probably only include immediate, life-threatening reactions.
Two items I'm sure you already know:
2000 severe, life-threatening reactions are reported to the CDC each year. That's only the most severe ones which result in prolonged hospitalization, permanent disability, or death.
3 billion dollars have been paid out to victims of vaccine reactions. That's not a small number. These reactions do exist, and I don't think anyone's arguing that they don't exist. I just wanted a reminder.
Dr. Pan's bill (AB2109) from two years ago has already influenced families and reduced personal belief exemptions by 20%. It's working. Now Dr. Pan wants to throw out that bill and make vaccines mandatory for school. Such a drastic action simply isn't necessary.
Conclusion:
Life for hundreds of thousands of Californian families will suddenly change if SB277 passes. We know that about 2.54% of families filed a personal belief exemption in CA last year. With 9 million school-age kids in CA, that's about 225,000 children. And for every such instant home-schooler, one parent will have to quit their job to become a teacher. People will have to leave CA because no one can afford to live here on one salary (well, a small percentage can). Schools will lose a huge chunk of their revenue because the number of kids who leave will not be small, and the state will lose tax revenue for every lost job.
How much money will public schools lose? This isn't easy to estimate. There are approximately 6 million public school children in California (out of about 9 million children total). We know the personal belief exemption rate is about 2.5%. This equals about 150,000 public school children. At about $10,000 per child, public schools will instantly lose about $1.5 billion. That's $1,500,000,000. This doesn't even include all the loses private schools will endure. Teachers and other school employees will lose their jobs left and right.
Will parents line up to vaccinate their kids if this passes so they can go to school? A few will. But human nature is such that when someone tries to force a decision on a parent regarding his or her kids, they don't line up. They run the other way. How many families in your district will this affect? I don't know. But it's not a small number.
But worst of all, in my opinion, is that we will create a whole sub-culture of children being raised outside of society, ostracized and alone. Am I being too dramatic? Admittedly, maybe. But with this bill also comes prejudice. You heard the testimony at Wednesday's hearing from those who support this bill that they don't wont their children to be around "those unvaccinated children." Those people. Those unclean people whose beliefs they don't agree with. Sorry, dramatic again. But I think there is some truth to this worry of creating a whole new reason for people to feel prejudicial against a new class of society. In every neighborhood, parents won't let their kids play with "those homeschoolers" because homeschooling will come to mean unvaccinated, different, contagious. Yes, we won't have measles in schools. But is this worth it?
Senator, know you can probably feel my passion. I know this bill had some initial good intentions for trying to reduce measles. As you have learned more and more about this issue, have you come to a point where you are questioning some of the aspects of this? Is there a chance that you are open to recognizing some of the challenges this bill creates? I would love to speak more. Again, I am at your disposal over the days and weeks to come.
With all respect for you, your office, and the government of California,
Dr. Bob Sears
Graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine
and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
Addendum:
Catchup schedule for unvaccinated five-year-old children who want to enter Kindergarden:
First round: DTaP, Polio, Hep B, MMR, Chickenpox, Hib
One month later: MMR, Chickenpox, Hep B
One month after that: DTaP, Polio
Two months after that: DTaP, Polio
Two months after that: Hep B
Four months after that: DTaP
Additional vaccines that could be insisted upon should the public health department add them to the bill requirements:
Hep A: two doses
Flu vaccine: two doses first year
Pneumococcal vaccine: one dose
This equals 15 required vaccines all in one year, and 5 more that could be added. This is unprecedented in medicine. No child ever receives this many vaccines at this age in the normal course of medicine. So this will create a whole new experiment on how older kids handle the sudden introduction of so many vaccines.
Dr. Sears,
Thank you for your work to make the vaccine program safer and for appearing at the capitol multiple times!
I want to add to your last paragraph because what we actually do in this country takes my breath away when I think about it:
"No child ever receives this many vaccines at this age in the normal course of medicine."
No child at this age, only our infants...who can't say much to us about what they are experiencing, what they are losing, what they might sometimes be suffering...and we can't say that's all right then, "it appears infants can handle it," because our infant mortality ranking in somewhere around 40th and last I heard 1 in 6 children have a developmental delay or disability, 1 in 2 have chronic immune-mediated illness or obesity or neurological illness (all of which may just be immune-mediated illness). We have a severe developmental disability spectrum we dub ASD, at least 30 times more common than paralytic polio in the epidemic years of that disease...and there's some things that the thimerosal+ generation deals with that I'm not sure hasn't fully come home to roost (I just hope that overall they are wiser despite all the help they've been given) and in the mean time we've been dorking around with "reduced" thimerosal and elevated aluminum and thimerosal in prenatal exposure..."hey, things don't seem to be significantly better (in terms of floating very delayed autism counting methods), so full steam ahead...?"
Which brings up, somewhat OT, why haven't we been blessed with an autism rate "update" this year? Is that only something they can manage on even numbered years? Does it take them a whole year to decide what they want the new numbers to show for the next update and to determine which states to use for that result? Can't announce the autism rate in the same month that they are trying to "legalize" forced vaccination even though it is supposed to be "autism awareness month?"
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 18, 2015 at 03:44 PM
Hello:
It looks Dr. Sears is almost waving the white flag here. If you give an inch now, they will be back again in a few months. With more vaccines added to the schedule.
Sadly, vaccine makers have no incentive to change their ways. They make huge profits but are totally protected from lawsuits because Congress granted them immunity
in 1986. We the taxpayers are paying for the damages they are causing. Sound familiar? Privatizing profits while socializing risk!!
If you want to change this, please sign this petition on Moveon.org.
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/repeal-immunity-for-drug
Kindly pass this on to everyone you know. Together, hopefully, we can make a difference!
Posted by: Num Guy | April 18, 2015 at 01:05 PM
I appreciate & thank Dr. Bob for helping fight SB277 but his belief that vaccines are a good thing is wrong. The real science says so when researched properly.
The real experts are the Historians, (Look it up), who line up with what parents who are also experts have concluded in vaccine fact.
Much MMR & CDC fraud has been exposed. It won't go away because, NOW, too many are paying attention for the cover up to continue.
When Dr. Bob said something like, 'Sure, there won't be measles in public schools if this bill passes but...'
And that statement will not stand when the science & studies, REAL STUDIES, prove the vaccinated shed disease.
Posted by: Marsha McClelland | April 18, 2015 at 12:59 PM
If anything he just gave them more reason to feel confident about stripping parental rights away even further. Its a terribly worded letter if indeed he supports freedom to choose and it really doesn't look that way. He thinks its perfectly ok for doctors to have the final say on a personal family decision. I lost respect for him with this.
Posted by: Em | April 18, 2015 at 08:46 AM
"seizures, tremors, high fever for several days, lethargy, extreme irritability, poor feeding, extreme sleepiness, sudden onset of severe eczema, symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, shutting down for several days to a week"
Instead of dismissing these common reactions, doctors need to find out what these symptoms mean. If parents took their unvaccinated child with these very same symptoms to the doctor what would he or she say and do? I very much doubt any doctor would tell them that there's nothing to worry about, and I think numerous tests would be carried out.
"Pediatricians simply won't give medical exemptions for these reactions. "
And therein lies the problem: doctors' blind faith in the safety of vaccines. And trusting their doctor, parents continue to vaccinate, but next time or the time after that, the child doesn't recover and the "shut down" is permanent, and then mysterious Autism is blamed for the regression and loss of skills.
Posted by: ATSC | April 17, 2015 at 11:43 PM
Bob,
I also have big problems with Dr. Sears' support of vaccines. I can tell you what is on his selective vaccine schedule. It's DTaP and rotavirus at 2 months, Prevnar and HIb at 3 months, DTaP and rotavirus at 4 months, Prevnar and HIb at 5 months, DTaP and rotavirus at 6 months, Prevnar and Hib at 7, Prevnar and Hib at 15 months, a tetanus booster at 5 years old, at 10 do blood tests and consider vaxing if no antibodies to measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and hep-A. At 11 give girls three doses of Gardasil. At 12 give all kids three doses of hep-B.
He also has an alternative vaccine schedule for parents who want (?) to give them all, but he spaces them out so not more than two shots per visit are ever given, with not more than one aluminum-containing shot per visit.
And he says he's giving the "autism" talk more and more often in his office. I wonder why.
Posted by: cia parker | April 17, 2015 at 08:32 PM
Re Dr Sears statement: "It is those children who suffer a moderately severe reaction to vaccines (as opposed to the extremely severe ones discussed above), and the parents don't want to proceed, yet the doctor does not believe the reaction was severe enough. These reactions are NOT uncommon. I see them almost every month in my office. Reactions such as brief seizures or tremors, high fever for several days with either lethargy or extreme irritability, poor feeding and extreme sleepiness, sudden onset of severe eczema, sudden symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and others. Some parents describe how their infant seems to "shut down" for several days to a week after vaccines. These kids do recover, fortunately, yet the decision then has to be made whether or not to proceed with the next round of shots two months later."
With these symptoms, It is hard to believe that any doctor would give children vaccinations at all, let alone when they are "NOT uncommon", when the risk from the diseases themselves is incredibly small. No wonder our kids have so much chronic illness.
Posted by: Tim Lundeen | April 17, 2015 at 08:02 PM
Bayareamom, I completely agree.
To me Dr.Sears seems disingenuous on this issue, almost like controlled opposition.
Posted by: Susan | April 17, 2015 at 06:53 PM
"...We don't know? Of course we do. We've seen hundreds of scientific studies which have proven this, heard the accounts of thousands of parents who witnessed our children's reacting to vaccines with these conditions, and seen how much less these problems plague unvaxed children. No way to know? Of course there are ways, but using them would establish how doctors have disabled or killed millions of children (and adults) with vaccines, in their decades of choosing to ignore the truth. And yes, of course it would disrupt their lives on many levels to do an about-face on this issue, and stop damaging children. But is it preferable just to keep maintaining the status quo?"
@Cia,
Absolutely. Of COURSE they/we know. At this point, I have to say this all just one gigantic cover-up. I'm seeing a paradigm shift with this issue, albeit a very slow shift toward the other side of the fence.
For many more than 'some,' I would imagine, maintaining that status quo IS preferable to owning up to the truth. But with this recent article re Pediatricians and Pediatric specialists who don't vaccinate their children according to the CDC schedule, this shift IS happening (too slow for my taste, but still...).
I recall, years ago, speaking with Dr. Paul Fleiss on the phone about the vaccine issue; he told me THEN (20 plus years ago), that 'many' pediatricians/others in the healthcare field had deep concerns about our country's vaccine schedule and with the vaccines themselves.
Posted by: Bayareamom | April 17, 2015 at 06:20 PM
Bob,
I agree. I also appreciate Dr. Bob's fighting against SB 277. But I also think that we must remember that he is a pro-vaccine doctor, albeit one who believes parents should make the ultimate decision. He believes that all babies should get the DTaP, Hib, Prevnar, and rotavirus vaccines absolutely on schedule. He believes in separating the M, M, and R, but believes in giving them. This shows no acceptance of the frequency of extremely severe adverse reactions to all of these vaccines which happen every day and cause lifelong disability of death. From The Vaccine Book, first edition, p. 167: "The (safety) data also don't take into account unknown factors, such as whether vaccines cause chronic, underlying problems. Some vaccine critics worry that conditions like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, learning disorders, neurologic problems, and autoimmune diseases, issues that seem to plague our children much more now than they did twenty years ago, may be triggered in part by the increased number of vaccines given today. IF SUCH PROBLEMS ARE INDEED CAUSED BY VACCINES, THEN THE RISK OF VACCINES WOULD FAR EXCEED THE RISKS OF THE DISEASES THEMSELVES. But there's really no way to determine the risk accurately, because we just don't know if vaccines play a role in these conditions."
We don't know? Of course we do. We've seen hundreds of scientific studies which have proven this, heard the accounts of thousands of parents who witnessed our children's reacting to vaccines with these conditions, and seen how much less these problems plague unvaxed children. No way to know? Of course there are ways, but using them would establish how doctors have disabled or killed millions of children (and adults) with vaccines, in their decades of choosing to ignore the truth. And yes, of course it would disrupt their lives on many levels to do an about-face on this issue, and stop damaging children. But is it preferable just to keep maintaining the status quo?
Posted by: cia parker | April 17, 2015 at 05:36 PM
Another comment/post from my below linked article re Pediatricians/Pediatric specialists who don't vaccinate according to CDC schedule:
"...With unbelievably toxic ingredients as listed below that a child is subjected to over and over and over if the CDC guidelines are followed, it’s no wonder more physicians are saying “no thanks”. According to Environmental Defense[3] (formerly known as the Environmental Defense fund), all vaccine ingredients are poisonous, carcinogenic or potentially harmful to the skin, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, immune and neurological systems in our bodies. Here’s the list as provided by the Vaccine Information Coalition:
"MSG, antifreeze, phenol (used as a disinfectant), formaldehyde (cancer causing and used to embalm), aluminum (associated with alzheimer’s disease and seizures), glycerin (toxic to the kidney, liver, can cause lung damage, gastrointestinal damage and death), lead, cadmium, sulfates, yeast proteins, antibiotics, acetone (used in nail polish remover), neomycin (antibiotic) and streptomycin (antibiotic). Thimerosol (more toxic than mercury, a preservative still used in many vaccines, not easily filtered out even in “mercury free” vaccines, can cause severe neurological damage as well as other life threatening autoimmune disease). These vaccines are grown and strained through animal or human tissue, like monkey and dog kidney tissue, chick embryo, calf serum, human diploid cells (the dissected organs of aborted fetuses), pig blood, horse blood and rabbit brain. The potential for contamination with undetected, extremely serious animal viruses is very high..."
Why on earth anyone would want to inject ANY of these substances into either their children/grandchildren and/or themselves, is just beyond me.
'Just a little poison spread out over time,' is no safer IN THE LONG RUN than giving it all at once!
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/13-percent-of-pediatricians-reject-cdc-vax-schedule-for-their-own-children/
Posted by: Bayareamom | April 17, 2015 at 04:05 PM
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/13-percent-of-pediatricians-reject-cdc-vax-schedule-for-their-own-children/
"...A recent study published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics revealed the stark truth that the mass media seems to refuse to acknowledge, the public is in the dark about, and dissenting pediatricians won’t reveal to their own patients for fear of having their careers jeopardized or worse, their license to practice medicine yanked..."
"Here is a quotation from this study:
Ten percent of pediatricians and 21% of pediatric specialists claim they would not follow [CDC] recommendations for future progeny. Despite their education, physicians in this study expressed concern over the safety of vaccines..."
Posted by: Bayareamom | April 17, 2015 at 04:00 PM
"Another question: If the State creates this schedule, is the State liable then for any injuries? What would be the potential legal/financial risks in this scenario?"
In a nutshell, NO.
Not sure as to your question re the 'catch up schedule,' but am assuming this may have come from our CA Department of Health/CDC.
Posted by: Bayareamom | April 17, 2015 at 02:32 PM
"...Even though I like the letter and will utilize it, I get mixed messages from the man."
Same here. Although I've now come out for the record and support Dr. Sears' efforts (and they are to be commended), I have always had some issues with him.
I have very serious concerns with Sears' following statement:
3. "Sorry, just remembered one more crux: Family history of severe auto-immune problems, prior severe vaccine reactions in a parent or in a previous child, and families who have been affected by neuro-developmental disorders. Many of these families don't want vaccines, yet their circumstances do not warrant exemption."
NO ONE determines whether or not any reaction suffered by a child warrants an exemption, UNLESS IT IS THE PARENT. Sorry, Dr. Sears - YOU do NOT have that authority. You are a physician, NOT A DEITY.
AND THIS:
"...And this is the second crux of what I would ask you to understand. Pediatricians simply won't give medical exemptions for these reactions. That is because the medical community at large believes so firmly that all vaccines are critical and must be given no matter what. And the only exception is a prior severe, life-threatening reaction (or severe immune compromise due to cancer or chemotherapy).
I might grant exemptions on a case by case basis after careful consideration of all the implications, but those doctors like me are only a few. We can't serve the whole state..."
Again, physicians should never, ever be in a position of authority when determining exemption status for ANYONE, let alone our vulnerable children. IT IS THE PARENTS WHO KNOW THEIR CHILDREN BEST and THEY and they ONLY, should make that sole determination (until the child becomes an adult and can them make these decisions himself).
So yes - still some very valid concerns re Dr. Sears, but I do applaud his efforts re SB277 (and the other bills now on CA's table).
Posted by: Bayareamom | April 17, 2015 at 02:06 PM
Dr Sears is quite obviously a caring and compassionate man, a doctor practising on the periphery of the establishment but still managing to stay within its prescribed boundaries, and he is deeply concerned about this Bill, and has grave doubts about its efficacy. He is more disturbed than he wants us to know IMO. His letter is struggling desperately to maintain an aura of calm and beneficent objectivity based on the science as he knows it. Yet between the lines he is saying that as regards certain vaccines such as MMR the science is still unproven, either way.
Bob Moffitt is right. Our children are NOT owned by the State or the medical fraternity. They are ours, the parents. If there is the slightest doubt about the malign effects of ANY vaccine upon babies and young children, these MUST be addressed properly. Dr Sears please don't tell us that the science is still 'unproven', that the link between chronic bowel disease and autism and the MMR is still unproven, you know this is untrue.
Automimmune disease is a hard one to fathom, why me, why us, why ours, one asks? I have M.E. and it was only Dr Wakefield who ever called it the 'adult autism'. There is still so much research that needs to be done. Measles is NOT the killer that it once was many years (centuries even) ago and this vaccine does not guarantee full protection anyhow.
It's all about control Dr Sears, we all know this.
Posted by: patricia | April 17, 2015 at 01:51 PM
Who proposed this amended vaccine "catch-up" schedule? Wouldn't this be especially risky for the children Dr. Sears is describing, whose parents have chosen philosophical exemption due to a personal or family history of adverse reactions?
Another question: If the State creates this schedule, is the State liable then for any injuries? What would be the potential legal/financial risks in this scenario?
Thank you!
Posted by: velika | April 17, 2015 at 01:06 PM
My family's heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Sears for taking time from his practice and his own family to be involved in this issue. His letter offers a thoughtful analysis of some iceberg-like issues beneath the tragedy known as SB277.
Posted by: David Taylor | April 17, 2015 at 01:00 PM
Senators feel "people are being rude, negative mean, they are feeling harassed." That's nothing but the fault of the pharma pushers ,AAP, CDC, media and yes,the government for not listening. Being respectful and quiet, waiting for crumbs of justice has just not worked. People- and cant they see that this is actually a lot of people, not just a small minority, are ANGRY and so they should be. Too many children and adults been injured. They have been mocked, told they are anti-science, not compensated in probably the majority of cases and ignored by media. The people seem to have finally had enough of this tyranny.
Posted by: for Bob | April 17, 2015 at 12:40 PM
Dr. Bob just gave several very practical reasons why SB 277 is a bad bill. I hope a critical mass of California politicians are starting to see the light.
Posted by: Dr. William Gaunt | April 17, 2015 at 12:23 PM
This is about a basic human right, as in the Nuremberg code-
informed consent and no coercion in medical matters.
Posted by: greyone | April 17, 2015 at 11:38 AM
Great letter and I will use it with the legislators in my state with a number of edits that would make it specific to the issues in the bill introduced. However , the part I will eliminate is this:
"I give vaccines every single day in my office. I am pro-vaccine and understand that vaccines work and have reduced and eliminated many serious diseases. And that's not just spouting a party line - I firmly believe that, and that's why I give them in my office.
I have not seen compelling evidence vaccines work, are safe or effective. I would like to see exactly what Dr. Sears is reading. Just the fact that childhood disease are not running rampant across America and children are no longer dying of childhood diseases doesn't mean this has occurred as a result of vaccination of the population:
-The questionable contribution of medical measures to the decline of mortality in the United States in the twentieth century“. McKinlay JB, McKinlay SM, Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc. 1977 Summer; 55(3): 405-28. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/pubhealth/rosner/g8965/client_edit/readings/week_2/mckinlay.pdf
A recent study revealed that 400,000 people a year die from medical mistakes. How many of those are vaccine related?
-Deaths by medical mistakes hit records: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/deaths-by-medical-mistakes-hit-records
I sense some internal struggle in Dr. Sears. On the one hand he's "pro-vaccine" yet he states "I am among only a couple handfuls of doctors in southern California who approach vaccines in a different manner than most by giving them more gradually, spread out over a longer period of time instead of grouping so many together during young infancy." There are so many ways this can manifest in how he gives vaccines. Is he giving what may be considered the mildest of the shots? Is he giving a shot every year, 6 months, is he cutting the dosage in half to adjust for weight etc.
Is Dr. Sears straddling the fence, not willing to jump off on either side of the debate. He's saying the right thing to compel the paid off legislators to at least listen to him and see him as an authority and at the same time he's giving advice of facebook like this:
“V. L. T. Action plan, pls read: For parents in this group: I just had a meeting with a high up Democrat who gave me some strategy points for stopping this Bill in Education.
Schools get paid for attendance. They will lose lots of funding. This needs to happen starting today as if this builds steam BEFORE the vote next week that is sending a very big message to the schools. This could be a major storm for them and bring the entire system into upset. That is what we need. If it’s coming from the schools to the Committee it’s another avenue to stop it. As we saw yesterday it became about people vs. institutions. Very few Pro SB277 but the ones there were from organizations, boards, etc. So getting the schools very worried is a strategy that creates much disruption in the system.
……………………………………….
Schools | Districts — Steps to Take BEFORE the vote on Wednesday April 15, 2015
1. Write your school, school district, and Board of Education
2. Call all the same people
3. Subject line: Notification — Removing (name) from School if SB277 passes
4. One page letter from parent – very thoughtful – not emotional or frantic – to explain that in opposition to SB277 they will be taking their child|children out of school. This letter serves to alert you so that you are prepared that my child will not be attending ….. school if this passes. Explain that this is not a positive bill for your child|children – tell them why – and that you will be pulling them from school. No threats, no homeschool issues, just tell them you are pulling your child. Short and sweet with key points will get the job done.
5. Parents who write letters — please call and send to 5 other parents in your child’s school who would also send a letter to the School.”
Even though I like the letter and will utilize it, I get mixed messages from the man.
Posted by: Danchi | April 17, 2015 at 09:51 AM
Re Dr. Sears being tired of flying up to Sacramento... How much is this travesty costing all the Californians who are being made to travel to these meetings, many with children in tow?
Like frivolous lawsuits in which the claimants are made to pay for all costs, Pan and Allen should be made to reimburse the People for the extreme trouble and expense they have caused by forcing them to leave home and work to travel to defend their most basic rights.
Posted by: Linda1 | April 17, 2015 at 09:25 AM
I greatly appreciate Dr. Sear's courage to speak in opposition to this dispicable "power grab" by elected representatives .. who were elected to "represent" the people they serve .. not tyrannize them .. as Dr. Benjamin Rush .. a brilliant Founding Father of our country .. warned at the time the Constitution was being written:
"Republic should make special provision for medical freedom. To restrict the art of healing to one class will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic. … Unless we put medical freedom into the constitution the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers."
As I said .. I greatly appreciate Dr. Sears for speaking up .. but .. the only resistance citizens in our REPUBLIC have against "medical tyranny" is to make our Humanitarian Right of "informed consent" .. SACROSANCT .. beyond the power of elected representatives .. acting on behalf of powerful vested interests .. to violate.
Parents ought not be forced to allow any DOCTOR to violate their RIGHT TO INFORMED CONSENT .. and .. unfortunately .. that includes Dr. Sears .. who wrote:
"Virtually all pediatricians, including our colleague Dr. Pan, fully vaccinate all of their patients. And they, fortunately, only see a few severe vaccine reactions since they are somewhat rare, and they accept those reactions when they happen as an unfortunate and unavoidable effect of the vaccination process. I can be thankful that very severe reactions are uncommon enough that they don't feel like a significant risk."
It is not enough that 'DOCTOR'S .. "accept those severe vaccine reactions as unfortunate and unavoidable" .. that "acceptance" belongs solely to PARENTS.
Dr. Sears continued:
"It is those children who suffer a moderately severe reaction to vaccines (as opposed to the extremely severe ones discussed above), and the parents don't want to proceed, yet the doctor does not believe the reaction was severe enough. These reactions are NOT uncommon. I see them almost every month in my office. Reactions such as brief seizures or tremors, high fever for several days with either lethargy or extreme irritability, poor feeding and extreme sleepiness, sudden onset of severe eczema, sudden symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and others. Some parents describe how their infant seems to "shut down" for several days to a week after vaccines. These kids do recover, fortunately, yet the decision then has to be made whether or not to proceed with the next round of shots two months later."
Again .. DOCTORS ought not have the last word regarding lengthy list of "not uncommon reactions to vaccines" .. including .. "brief seizures or tremors, high fever for several days with either lethargy or extreme irritability, poor feeding and extreme sleepiness, sudden onset of severe eczema, sudden symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and others" .. before deciding OUR children have "recovered" before proceeding with the next round of shots two months later.
After all .. it is PARENTS who not only witness those "common adverse reactions" to their recently vaccinated child .. but .. those same PARENTS are the ones who ought to have the right to determine if their child "recovered" .. and .. then decide for THEMSELVES and THEIR CHILD .. whether or not to go forward to the next round of shots two months later.
Does Dr. Sears know for certain those initial "adverse reactions" were not "early warning signs" of autism, allergies, juvenile type 1 diabetes .. that were eventually diagnosed months or even years later?
I am not willing to give Dr. Sears or any other doctor the "right" to determine if children have completely "recovered" .. from those "common reactions" .. until there is unimpeacheable scientific evidence that "vaccinated" and "unvaccinated" children are equally represented among the wide-spread and growing dramatic increases in chronic autoimmune disorders.
Again .. I greatly appreciate Dr. Sears courage in speaking out about HIS concerns regarding this particular bill .. but .. in my opinion .. the "issue" is who decides .. the child's parents .. or .. the child's legislators or doctors.
If indeed it is determined that decision belongs to the legislators and doctors .. we have arrived at Dr. Rush's greatest fear .. a MEDICAL TYRANNY established over the USA.
Posted by: Bob moffitt | April 17, 2015 at 07:23 AM