Are you surprised that I think Bob Sears was right about something?
You shouldn’t be…
Bob Sears Was Right
Unfortunately, one of the few things he was right about is the only thing most folks didn’t seem to hear.
“With the growing mistrust of vaccinations in our country, more and more parents are saying no to vaccines. They’re refusing all vaccines altogether. And I think if more and more parents keep making those decisions, we’re going to run into a lot of trouble with these diseases. Illnesses that are very rare right now, that most parents don’t have to fear, could escalate and could start killing babies left and right if fewer and fewer parents are vaccinating.”
Dr. Robert W. Sears: Why Partial Vaccinations May Be an Answer
He repeatedly warned that measles and other diseases would come back if parents didn’t vaccinate their kids.
“As parents’ fears of vaccines grow, I think we may see fewer and fewer parents decide to vaccinate. And then we could see what used to be very rare illnesses become more common. We might see measles escalate. We might see diphtheria come back into the United States. God forbid, we might see polio come back. Then children are going to start dying. And then a lot of those parents that had chosen not to vaccinate might change their mind, and they might start vaccinating again, and then new parents might be more inclined to vaccinate their babies if we see these diseases come back.
Now, I hope and pray that doesn’t happen. I hope that we can maintain adequate herd immunity in our country so we don’t see these diseases return. But that worry of diseases coming back into our country, and the worry of diseases running rampant and killing a lot of babies, I don’t think that supersedes the parents’ basic right to choose what they want to do for their children. And if parents want to accept the disease risk because they don’t trust the vaccines, I think they have the right to make that choice.”
Dr. Robert W. Sears: Why Partial Vaccinations May Be an Answer
Were you surprised when they did?
“Why is it that every time there are a few cases of measles, everyone panics? I just don’t get it.”
Bob Sears
And predictably, folks like Sears have downplayed their return.
“This measles outbreak does not pose a great risk to a healthy child. And quite frankly I don’t think it poses any risk to a healthy child.”
Jay Gordon on Doctor explains why he lets kids avoid the measles vaccine
Were you expecting them to start recommending that kids get vaccinated and protected?
Ironically, folks like Bob Sears thought they were helping to get more kids vaccinated by pushing their non-standard, parent-selected, delayed protection vaccine schedules, but in reality, all they did was scare parents even more.
To be fair, Bob Sears wasn’t the only person to predict the return of vaccine-preventable diseases.
“I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f*cking fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s sh*t. If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism.”
Jenny McCarthy on Autism and Vaccines
Nor the only person folks blame…
But he may have been one of the first to predict what would happen if parents actually listened to what he was saying…
More on Bob Sears and the Return of Measles
- What Are Anti-Vaccine Folks Saying About the Measles Outbreaks?
- Who’s Who in the Anti-Vaccine Movement – 2019 Edition
- The Moral Responsibility of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- Has Bobby Kennedy Taken Over the Anti-Vaccine Movement?
- What Are the Greatest Tricks Anti-Vaccine Folks Use to Persuade Parents to Skip Vaccines?
- How Jay Gordon On Bill Maher Helps Explain Our Anti-Vaccine Problems
- More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
- How Do Anti-Vaccine Folks Think?
- Dr. Robert W. Sears: Why Partial Vaccinations May Be an Answer
- Jenny McCarthy on Autism and Vaccines
- Doctor explains why he lets kids avoid the measles vaccine
- Despite Measles Warnings, Anti-Vaccine Rally Draws Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews
- Study – Measles resurgence in the USA: how international travel compounds vaccine resistance
- The Disneyland measles outbreak: “Dr. Bob” Sears says measles isn’t that bad, and an antivaccine activist invokes the Brady Bunch fallacy
- Don’t just blame Jenny McCarthy for the measles outbreak, blame Dr. Bob too
- Thanks, Jenny McCarthy! Thanks for the measles!
- “Dr. Bob” Sears profiled: A cynical vaccine-averse pediatrician who accepts no blame for the results of his antivaccine message
- The Somali measles outbreak in Minnesota: Thanks again, Andy (and American antivaxers), for the measles
- Thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for making measles great again.
- Alternative Vaccination Schedules Encourage Distrust
- Dr. Robert Sears vaccine info misleads parents about measles