Tag: Kenneth Stoller

Were 38% of the Disneyland Measles Cases a Vaccine Strain?

Why do some people think that 38% of the Disneyland measles cases were caused by a vaccine strain of measles?

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.
There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

Maybe because anti-vaccine folks have been pushing this propaganda for years now…

Were 38% of the Disneyland Measles Cases a Vaccine Strain?

Jim Meehan wasn’t the first to make the claim.

Kenneth Stoller made the claim as part of his factual background and under “penalties of perjury” when he was being investigated for writing fraudulent medical exemptions in California.

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

And it has been repeated over and over again.

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

And not just about California.

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

Larry Palevsky seems to think that the big outbreaks in New York could have just been folks with vaccine-strain measles…

“All measles cases this year have been caused by measles wild-type D8 or B3.”

CDC on Measles Cases in 2019

Of course, none of this is true.

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak!

What the California Department of Public Health reported were recently vaccinated persons who developed a febrile rash, which is a common side effect of the MMR vaccine. They were tested because they were in the middle of a measles outbreak and they wanted to make sure that these folks didn’t have measles. And they didn’t.

A few studies even describe the methods they used.

“Here, we describe a real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) method that detects the vaccine genotype (MeVA RT-quantitative PCR [RT-qPCR]) and that can provide rapid discrimination between wild-type-virus infections and vaccine reactions.”

Roy et al on Rapid Identification of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype by Real-Time PCR

Again, the “vaccine reaction” is not that they developed measles! They developed a rash and/or fever, a common side effect of the MMR vaccine.

So how do we know that most cases in other outbreaks aren’t recently vaccinated persons with a febrile rash illness?

“During outbreaks, measles vaccine is administered to help control the outbreak, and in these situations, vaccine reactions may be mistakenly classified as measles cases.”

CDC on Genetic Analysis of Measles Viruses

Well for one thing, most of the cases are in folks who aren’t vaccinated!

And measles symptoms are much more severe than the few days of fever and rash that you might get after being vaccinated.

But if necessary, testing can be done to see if it is a vaccine strain and to see if they don’t actually have measles.

And can everyone now stop saying that that 38% of the Disneyland measles cases were caused by a vaccine strain of measles?

There were no vaccine strain measles cases in the Disneyland outbreak.

More on Measles Strains in Outbreaks

About Those Inappropriate Medical Exemptions in California

As we wait for SB 276 to be signed into law, we are still hearing a lot of misinformation about those inappropriate medical exemptions that docs have been writing in California.

No doctors have been found guilty of granting inappropriate medical exemptions? What about Bob Sears?
No doctors have been found guilty of granting inappropriate medical exemptions? What about Bob Sears?

Is it true that no doctors have been found writing inappropriate medical exemptions?

About Those Inappropriate Medical Exemptions in California

Well, it’s kind of true, but only on a technicality.

Many California docs are being investigated for writing inappropriate medical exemptions, including:

And others have been called out in the media for writing excessive numbers of medical exemptions, including Tara Zandvliet, Tiffany Baer, Sabrina Sonneman, and Lonna Larsh. And selling those exemptions!

The medical exemptions of Kelly Sutton are still under investigation.
The medical exemptions of Kelly Sutton are still under investigation. She works in the same clinic as Tiffany Baer.

So have any of them been found guilty of writing inappropriate medical exemptions?

“In recent years, however, the board has sanctioned only one doctor for inappropriately writing a medical vaccine exemption in a case that made headlines. Since 2013, the board has received 106 complaints about potentially improper vaccine exemptions, including nine so far this year, said spokesman Carlos Villatoro.

One pending case involves Dr. Ron Kennedy, who was trained as a psychiatrist and now runs an anti-aging clinic in Santa Rosa.

Medical board investigators took the unusual step of subpoenaing 12 school districts for student medical records after receiving complaints that Kennedy was writing inappropriate exemptions. They found that Kennedy had written at least 50 exemptions, using nearly identical form letters, for students in multiple communities, including Santa Rosa, Fremont and Fort Bragg, saying that immunizations were “contraindicated” for a catchall list of conditions including lupus, learning disability, food allergies and “detoxification impairment.”

Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital and the medical board’s expert witness, said that the exemptions issued by Kennedy appear to have been provided “without an appropriate evaluation,” according to court documents.

Kennedy has refused to respond to the board’s subpoenas seeking the medical records of three of his patients, according to court documents. The board has yet to file a formal accusation against Kennedy, and he continues to practice.

Exemptions Surge As Parents And Doctors Do ‘Hail Mary’ Around Vaccine Laws

They haven’t been found guilty, but maybe because the Medical Board of California has not been able to properly investigate their cases!

That is one of the things that SB 276 changes and why the Medical Board of California has supported SB 276.

“Since the passage of SB 277 in 2015, the Board has faced obstacles in investigating complaints related to medical exemptions. For all quality of care cases, the Board must obtain authorization from the patient or their parent or guardian (if the patient is a minor) to release the medical records. For medical exemption cases, many times the parent or guardian does not want the Board to investigate the physician who issued their medical exemption, so the parent will not sign an authorization. This has created barriers to the Board investigating these cases because for most of these medical exemption cases, the Board does not have enough evidence to subpoena the medical records. Without the medical records, the Board’s physician expert cannot review the case to determine if the physician acted within the standard of care.”

Medical Board of California Legislative Analysis

To say that “no doctors have been found writing inappropriate medical exemptions” is very misleading.

It would be much more appropriate to say that many doctors have been found writing inappropriate medical exemptions, but the Medical Board of California just couldn’t prove their case using pre-SB 276 guidelines.

More on Medical Exemptions

Is California Considering the Strictest Vaccine Law in the Country?

California is close to passing a new vaccine law, SB 276, that will help close a loophole that has allowed doctors to write inappropriate medical exemptions for vaccines.

SB276 in California will not be the strictest vaccine law in the country.
SB276 in California will not be the strictest vaccine law in the country.

But is SB 276 the strictest vaccine law in the country?

Is California Considering the Strictest Vaccine Law in the Country?

To be sure, California is one of the few states that doesn’t allow non-medical exemptions. But that was accomplished with SB 277, a vaccine law that eliminated personal belief vaccine exemptions in California back in 2015.

So why are they back with a new vaccine law?

Do you know why California needs a stricter vaccine law?
Do you know why California needs a stricter vaccine law?

Again, too many doctors were writing inappropriate medical exemptions.

But far from becoming the strictest vaccine law in the country, SB 276 simply catches California up with a few other states that don’t allow non-medical exemptions.

Several states require approval of medical exemptions, which can help cut down on abuse.
Several states require approval of medical exemptions, which can help cut down on abuse.

I say catch-up, because unlike California under SB 277, these states have strict rules about what counts as a medical exemption.

Doctors in these states can’t abuse the system and write unnecessary or fake medical exemptions for kids whose parents are simply scared to get their kids vaccinated.

Which states?

West Virginia and Mississippi are the main states that have not allowed non-medical exemptions.

“Requests for a medical exemption from vaccine requirements shall be reviewed and approved or denied by the State Immunization Officer. “

West Virginia Medical Exemptions Information

They have recently been joined by New York and Maine.

“May be detrimental to the child’s health means that a physician has determined that a child has a medical contraindication or precaution to a specific immunization consistent with ACIP guidance or other nationally recognized evidence-based standard of care.”

New York Codes, Rules and Regulations Section 66-1.1

But since all medical exemptions in California, under SB276, won’t have to be approved, California is hardly considering the strictest vaccine law in the country.

More on Vaccine Laws

What Is Standard of Care?

Anti-vaccine folks who are talking about “standard of care” when deciding who gets a medical exemption for vaccines obviously don’t really understand what it means.

Why are these advocating against keeping kids protected against life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases?
Why are these advocating against keeping kids protected against life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases?

Maybe that’s why they put standard of care in quotes in the above infographic against SB276, a new vaccine bill in California that will eliminate fake vaccine exemptions.

What Is Standard of Care?

When we talk about standard of care in medicine, it is important to understand that it is a legal term, with a legal definition:

“That which a minimally competent physician in the same field would do under similar circumstances”

Moffett et al on The Standard of Care: Legal History and Definitions: the Bad and Good News

Does this mean that the minimally competent physicians can choose whatever criteria they want to write fake medical exemptions for vaccines?

Of course not!

“Treatment that is accepted by medical experts as a proper treatment for a certain type of disease and that is widely used by healthcare professionals. Also called best practice, standard medical care, and standard therapy.”

NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms

Just because a few doctors do something a certain way, that doesn’t make it the proper way for it to be done.

These are among the common conditions that the AAP says should NOT delay vaccination and which are often mistakenly thought to qualify someone for a medical exemption.
These are among the common conditions that the AAP says should NOT delay vaccination and which are often mistakenly thought to qualify someone for a medical exemption.

And that’s why a doctor making up their own rules for what counts as a vaccine medical exemption, especially when it goes against published guidelines and advice, isn’t standard of care.

More on Standard of Care