Tag: MMR rash

Will SB276 Revoke Legitimate Medical Exemptions?

Bob Sears has already said that SB276 will eliminate medical exemptions and stop doctors from writing medical exemptions.

ITP after MMR is not a reason to get a medical exemption for all vaccines…

What is he saying now?

Will SB276 Revoke Legitimate Medical Exemptions?

Bob Sears is saying that SB276 will revoke legitimate medical exemptions from children who have had “seizures, nerve injuries, and severe allergic reactions after vaccines.”

He also says that they “will be forced to continue just to stay in school.”

To be clear, neither SB276 nor any other vaccine law in the United States forces anyone to get vaccinated.

Yes Bob Sears, what do you mean forced to stay in school?
Yes Bob Sears, what do you mean forced to stay in school?

Although implying forced vaccination is a common anti-vaccine tactic, even his own followers called him out on it…

What else can you see from reading the comments to Bob’s post?

Some medical exemptions might be revoked under SB276, but it isn’t because they are legitimate.

ITP would not be a reason to get a medical exemption to all vaccines.
ITP would not be a reason to get a medical exemption to ALL VACCINES.

A rash that turned in ‘purple blobs’ after the MMR vaccine sounds like it could be ITP, which is actually a table injury.

Since the ACIP lists that as a precaution to getting another dose of MMR, you would almost certainly get a medical exemption, but not to all vaccines!

While scary for parents, ITP typically goes away on its own without treatment in about two weeks to six months.

Anyway, SB276 doesn’t revoke legitimate medical exemptions.

If you actually read SB276, as amended, what it does do is trigger a review by medical professionals to “identify those medical exemption forms that do not meet applicable CDC, ACIP, or AAP criteria for appropriate medical exemptions” if:

  • a school’s immunization rate drops below 95%
  • a doctor writes five or more medical exemptions in a single year (although that doesn’t sound like a lot, keep in mind that true medical exemptions are not very common, so the average doctor who is only writing medical exemptions for their own patients likely won’t write that many each year)
  • a school doesn’t report it’s immunization rates

And once reviewed, inappropriate medical exemptions can be revoked, although that process can be appealed by a parent who thinks that their child does indeed have a legitimate medical exemption.

Keep in mind that just because a doctor writes more than 5 exemptions in a single year, that doesn’t mean that they will automatically be revoked. That simply triggers a review. Even if the doctor writes 10 or 20, if they are legitimate exemptions, then they will be allowed.

Again, SB276 doesn’t revoke legitimate medical exemptions.

Why does Bob Sears think that it does?

Maybe because many of things that Bob Sears considers to be legitimate medical exemptions actually aren’t, which is why he is already under investigation, even before SB276 is enacted…

More on Legitimate Medical Exemptions

How Long Do Side Effects of Immunizations Last?

Immunizations are safe, but they can have some risks and side effects.

Vaccine side effects can be reported to VAERS online or using a downloadable form.
Vaccine adverse events can be reported to VAERS online or using a downloadable form.

Fortunately, most are fairly mild, like pain and fever.

How Long Do Side Effects of Immunizations Last?

And most vaccine side effects go away quickly.

For example, fever and fussiness, two of the most common vaccine reactions, typically only lasts a day or two.

Others can last a little longer, but still usually go away on their own:

  • when kids get a rash after their MMR vaccine, it might last three or four days
  • even when kids get swelling of an entire arm or leg after the DTaP shot is given, it might last for 1–7 days
  • pain at the injection site typically only lasts a few days
  • shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) can last months and sometimes doesn’t go away
  • arthritis after a rubella containing vaccine, which mostly occurs in adults, typically only lasts a few days
  • febrile seizures are usually brief and rarely lead to non-febrile seizures
  • immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) after a measles containing vaccine resolves in two weeks to six months, typically without any treatment
  • intussusception after a rotavirus vaccine resolves with treatment, either an air contrast enema or surgery
  • Guillain-Barré Syndrome after a seasonal flu vaccine, which is very rare, resolves in the majority of people over a period of years

Do any have more long lasting effects?

VAPP or vaccine-associated paralytic polio after the oral polio vaccine might not resolve. Fortunately, it only occurs in about 1 in every 1.27 million children receiving their first dose of OPV. It is even less common after bOPV, which is oral polio vaccine that is now being used. And won’t happen at all once we stop using oral polio vaccines.

Encephalitis or encephalopathy after a pertussis or a measles, mumps, and rubella virus containing vaccine might also lead to long lasting effects.

And some, like anaphylaxis, are life-threatening.

Fortunately, most long-term vaccine studies have shown that immunizations are safe, rarely causing severe reactions, and don’t have many long term side effects.

What to Know About How Long Immunization Side Effects Last

Most vaccine side effects are mild and only last a few days.

More on Immunization Side Effects

Vaccine Induced Measles

Why are anti-vaccine folks still pushing the idea that vaccine induced measles is a thing?

This study is not about vaccine induced measles.
This study is not about vaccine induced measles.

In yet another example of anti-vaccine folks inappropriately using a real vaccine study, the ironically named Physicians for Informed Consent continues to push the idea that many measles cases are caused by the MMR vaccine.

Vaccine Induced Measles

They aren’t…

The study they are citing, Rapid Identification of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype by Real-Time PCR, simply talks about how to “distinguish between measles cases and vaccine reactions.”

“During measles outbreak investigations, rapid detection of measles vaccine reactions is necessary to avoid unnecessary public health interventions.”

Rapid Identification of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype by Real-Time PCR

While many of these people do test positive for a vaccine strain, they do not actually have measles. They typically just have a rash and/or fever, with a concern that they might have measles because they are in the middle of a measles outbreak.

But if they have a rash and fever and test positive for measles, even if it is a vaccine strain, why shouldn’t we just say that they have measles?

Because measles isn’t just about having a rash and fever. It is having a specific pattern of a high fever for 3 or 4 days, then developing a rash, and continuing to have a fever. People with measles also typically have other symptoms, including irritability, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis.

Confirmed Case Counts in Measles Outbreaks

Still, since these measles vaccine reactions can get confused with real measles cases, do they inflate the measles case counts in our outbreaks?

Testing helps to make sure that only real cases of measles are included in outbreak case counts.
Testing helps to make sure that only real cases of measles are included in outbreak case counts.

They don’t.

While we occasionally do see a “confirmed” case later change as further testing is done, it is important to realize that most cases are thoroughly evaluated to see if they are in fact really measles.

Most case counts are made up of confirmed cases and don’t include suspected cases that might be someone who has a rash after their MMR vaccine or some other viral infection.

“Vaccine‐associated measles is a possible, but extremely rare event.”

Sood et al on Vaccine‐associated measles in an immunocompetent child

Anyway, vaccine induced or vaccine associated measles is extremely rare.

What about the fully vaccinated woman in New York who developed measles, getting four other people sick in 2011?

Didn’t she have vaccine induced measles?

Nope.

“This is the first report of measles transmission from a twice-vaccinated individual with documented secondary vaccine failure. The clinical presentation and laboratory data of the index patient were typical of measles in a naive individual. “

Rosen et al on Outbreak of Measles Among Persons With Prior Evidence of Immunity, New York City, 2011

She had the D4 strain of measles – not a vaccine strain.

Who Gets Measles?

Most people who get measles are unvaccinated, often intentionally unvaccinated.

Trying to get you to think that many people in an outbreak have a vaccine strain is just another propaganda technique to scare you away from vaccinating and protecting your kids.

Don’t fall for it!

Two doses of MMR are the best protection against measles.

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and they are obviously necessary.

More on Vaccine Induced Measles

Who Is Kenneth Stoller?

It is well known that there are doctors in California writing fake medical exemptions for kids so that they can avoid getting vaccinated and protected.

Tara Zandvliet isn't the only one writing a lot of medical exemptions for vaccines.
Tara Zandvliet isn’t the only one writing a lot of medical exemptions for vaccines.

Just who these doctors are is probabaly a bit of a mystery to a lot of people.

Who Is Kenneth Stoller?

In addition to Tara Zandvliet in San Diego, Kenneth Stoller has been writing a lot of medical exemptions for kids in California.

Did Kenneth Stoller get referrals for medical exemptions through anti-vaccine groups on Facebook?
Did Kenneth Stoller get referrals for medical exemptions through anti-vaccine groups on Facebook?

In fact, he has been writing so many that he got the attention of the City Attorney in San Francisco, who is investigating “whether the San Francisco doctor has been unlawfully providing medical exemptions that allowed parents to avoid vaccinating their children, which would put those children, their playmates, their schoolmates, and the general public at greater risk of contracting a communicable disease.”

In a response to this investigation, which includes a subpoena for his medical records, Ken Stoller admits that he “issues exemptions based on considerations not listed as CDC contraindications and precaution.”

“In conclusion, the invalid interpretation that the determination of the MTFHR variant is an acceptable reason for vaccine exemptions is not based on the precepts of replication and rigorous clinical testing. It is unfortunate that the loose application of our exploratory report has been misinterpreted and used to inappropriately justify exemption of children from medically indicated vaccines.”

David M Reif, Ph.D. on the Inappropriate Citation of Vaccine Article

Since the CDC list of contraindications and precautions is what most people consider the standard of care for a medical exemption, it is a little hard to understand what his defense will be? It isn’t the continued use of MTHFR testing, is it?

“There is no published information as of yet as to how many of the 10 measles cases in children were the wild measles strain, (i.e., unvaccinated children, versus children who contracted symptoms from the vaccine, like the 38% in the Disneyland outbreak), or how many were vaccinated and contracted wild measles due to primary vaccine failure, which may be 10% or more.”

Complaint/verified Petition to Quash an Administrative Subpoena, for Declaratory and Injunctive relief against the Subpoena and in Support of an Alternative Standard of Vaccine Exemptions Recognized Under California Law

Is he going to push the myth that kids in California have vaccine strain measles?

This is not vaccine strain measles, an idea that anti-vaccine folks continue to push to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.
This is not vaccine strain measles, an idea that anti-vaccine folks continue to push to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

Although some vaccine strains were detected in 2015, they were not in people who actually had measles.

“During measles outbreaks, it is important to be able to rapidly distinguish between measles cases and vaccine reactions to avoid unnecessary outbreak response measures such as case isolation and contact investigations.”

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

They are people with a febrile rash illness. The rash and fever is a vaccine side effect. It is not vaccine-associated measles.

And primary vaccine failure is not very common at all, which is why most cases are in those who are unvaccinated.

Kenneth Stoller on Vaccines and Autism

What else does Dr. Stoller believe?

“For many children, the enviornmental illness that we have incorrectly been calling autism, is actually an illness that has been exacerbated by too many toxic vaccines. Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of people in governmental circles who know that certain vaccine ingredients, such as ethyl mercury, found in the perservative thimerosal, will cause neurobehavioral problems and negatively impact the health of vaccinated children.”

Kenneth Stoller

Autism as encephalopathy, biomarkers, testing urine porphyrins, chelation therapy, detoxification, hyperbaric oxygen therapy – it’s all there. And it is all the type of autism-vaccine misinformation that experts say to avoid.

Many will wonder why the medical board hasn’t paid him a visit before the City Attorney in San Francisco came calling.

Is it a surprise that Kenneth Stoller found 'valid health reasons' for them to skip their daughter's vaccines?
Is it a surprise that Kenneth Stoller found ‘valid health reasons’ for them to skip their daughter’s vaccines?

But few should have any doubt that SB 276 needs to pass.

More on Kenneth Stoller