Mandating Vaccines Not The Answer

The following professional editorial states the obvious common sense perspective from highly respected and informed Dr. Bob Sears, M.D. FAAP, based in Dana Point, CA.

Measles. It used to be just a disease. Now it's become a banner under which politicians gather to threaten our most sacred right to give informed consent for medical treatment.

Whether you are for vaccines, against them or neutral, ponder this question: Is vaccination a medical treatment which should fall under the protection informed consent or does the government have the right to force them on every American?

When I give patients the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine in my office, I follow the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which mandate that I provide informed consent. The American Medical Association describes it as a patient's right of self-decision and a basic policy in both ethic and law that physicians must honor.

If vaccines were harmless to every single person who received them, then I could understand putting this decision in the hands of our elected officials. But consider this:

• Roughly 2,000 severe reactions are reported to the CDC each year, which result in prolonged hospitalization, permanent disability or death. Yet, because most can't be proven, the medical community denies that they can happen.
• Over $3 billion has been paid out to victims of vaccine reactions. Are we paying that much money to victims of pretend reactions? I think not.

Your might think it's the actual measles outbreak that is responsible for the current political hysteria, But it is not.

Instead, it is an opportunistic attempt to overstate the dangers of what measles could potentially do to our nation. Let's look at the facts of the current outbreak:

• As of Feb. 17, there are 141 cases nationwide. Not thousands. According to the Orange County Public Health Department, no new cases have been reported in O.C. since Feb. 4th.
• After the initial surge, it is now moving slowly. It is not spreading like wildfire in an exponential explosion of unprecedented proportion.
• Last year's 640 cases were an anomaly, because over 400 occurred in one Amish community in New York and over 100 cases hit an unvaccinated church community in Texas. But for the rest of highly vaccinated America, last year's measles was business as usual. This year we are off to a tough start, but it's slowing down.
• It (measles) has killed no one. It can kill about one person in every 1,000 cases. Will someone die of measles in the United States someday? Maybe. But it hasn't killed anyone in the past 15 years or more.
• It's measles. It's not the plague. It's not polio. It's not Ebola. We need something a lot more dangerous than that if we are going to rob each and every patient of the sacred right of informed consent.

Let's stop panicking over what measles might do and calmly examine what it is doing.

It has a small and intermittent presence in our country. It makes people sick, then they get over it. It has complications, but rarely so. Vaccination is important and protective. But it cannot be forced, a parent must give consent.

If you would rather make your own medical decisions within the sacred confines of the doctor-patient relationship, then let Sacramento know now.

Written by Dr. Bob Sears, M.D. FAAP, Pediatrician