LOS ANGELES — One California doctor has posted a clear notice that his practice will no longer see children whose parents won’t get them vaccinated.
It’s a sentiment echoed by a small number of doctors who in recent years have “fired” patients who continue to believe debunked research linking vaccines to autism.
The strategy comes amid the nation’s second-biggest measles outbreak in at least 15 years, with 95 cases or more since last month, most of them traced directly or indirectly to Disneyland in Southern California.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says doctors should respect a parent’s wishes unless there’s a significant risk to the child.
However, if the relationship between patient and doctor becomes unworkable, the pediatrics academy says, the doctor may want to encourage the vaccine refuser to go to another physician.
Joyce
Good for the doctor. Finally, some common sense. Anti vaxxers choose to potentially do harm, doctor chooses to uphold his oath to do no harm.
Pamela Augustin
I read one news article that said the Disneyland cases had already been vaccinated against measles. 95 cases is not very many considering the population of the USA.
Lewis
A vaccination does not make you immune to a disease, it means your body can recognise and react to the disease and fight off small amounts of the pathogen before it has time to cultivate and replicate in the body (thus infecting the person). BUT, if you are exposed to a large amount of the pathogen (eg: from an unvaccinated child who has contracted and become fully infected with the disease) you can still become infected with the disease. This is the problem. Unvaccinated children who become infected not only pose a threat to other unvaccinated children, but also to those children and adults who HAVE been vaccinated.
Sheryle
I’m also very worried about smallpox. Children born in the 70s and after have not been vaccinated. The disease has been declared to be no longer a threat. There are no immediate vaccines to be given. This would prove to be the biggest destroyer of life on this earth if ever used for Biological warfare (BW). Just last July, forgotten vials of smallpox were found in an unused storeroom near DC! What if they had fallen into the wrong hands? If you’ve never seen a picture of a victim of smallpox, which is almost always fatal, Google it and take a look at some of the pictures…if you can.