We recently received hearing dates in late May, 2018 for Dr. Bob’s hearing before an administrative law judge. The case is primarily about his writing a note excusing the child from vaccination due to two prior severe vaccine reactions.

But May, 2018 apparently is not soon or severe enough for the LA Times which today published a story complaining that Dr. Bob and many other doctors are still writing medical exemptions that don’t meet the standards of medical exemptions by conventional pediatrics and the CDC (under which standards there are no medical conditions which justify a blanket exemption from all vaccines throughout childhood). The Times seems to want all these docs rounded out or put out of business today.

The title of the article says it all:

“Why hasn’t California cracked down on anti-vaccination doctors? A loophole in state law”

Here is the article:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vaccine-doctors-20171106-htmlstory.html

The article has some interesting quotes from Senator Ben Allen, one of SB 277’s authors about the intent of the bill and how he doesn’t support the medical board trying to intimidate doctors who write exemptions. The article also quotes Jay Gordon, another prominent vaccine concerned doc opining that it’s up to the doctor to decide whether to give an exemption or not.

Maybe the board is moving slowly because it’s starting to realize that the issue is more complicated and nuanced than the rabid pro-vaxxers make it out to be.

In working on Bob’s case for the past year, a couple things have come out that surprised me, and having been in the cutting-edge medicine field for more than 30 years, not much surprises me these days.

First, in looking for academic experts for the case, I keep hearing the same thing over and over again. The academic expert is concerned about vaccine safety but can’t go public because of fear of reprisals from the vaccine Mafioso. I find this understandable but disheartening.

Second, I keep hearing about doctors, beyond those in the vaccine concerned movement, who aren’t fully vaccinating their kids, but they are doing it quietly.

Third, there is a black hole out there when it comes to any information other than full-on negative against the vaccine concerned. Scientists not being able to get their work published. Hell, I wrote a simple update on Bob’s case and raised some issues about aluminum, and got banned from Huffington Post for doing so.

This is one of the few areas in medical science and policy where a point of view is considered too dangerous to have openly expressed in the general media apparently. I suppose I understand the reasoning behind it: fear of creating fear which could/would reduce vaccination rates. Seems wrong to me.

If there are any brave academic pediatricians willing to take a stand, get in touch.

Rick Jaffe, Esq.
Rickjaffeesquire.com
www.rickjaffe.com