Tag: SB276

Is SB 276 a Civil Rights Issue?

Wait, what? SB 276? The vaccine bill in California? Why are some folks thinking that SB 276 is a civil rights issue?

How is SB 276 a civil rights issue?
How is SB 276 a civil rights issue?

Oh, it’s the usual suspects again…

Is SB 276 a Civil Rights Issue?

Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time that Bob Sears has promoted the idea that vaccine laws were the same as segregation and other civil rights issues.

“In my opinion, this is a new type of discrimination at its worst. It’s taking a new class of vulnerable children — the vaccine-compromised — and saying that because they refuse to finish their damn shots, they don’t get school. Forget separate but equal. This is separate … and NOTHING! No school at all. Soon it’s going to be no playgrounds and no drinking fountains either. Hey, the last time our government did this to a group of people, at least they GOT drinking fountains. They even got to ride buses, as long as they sat in the back. Because our government said “those people” were not safe for the rest of us to be around, and our society stood by and let it happen. And the discrimination we perpetrated on our equals so many years ago is one of the great evils our country is still guilty of. Is that what this article, and the California SB 276 bill it’s supporting, is asking us to go back to?”

Bob Sears

Are parents who can’t send their kids to school because they choose to intentionally skip or delay vaccines really the same as kids who are discriminated against because of their race?

SB 276 promotes segregation?
SB 276 promotes segregation?

Is SB 276, which simply eliminates the loophole that allows doctors to write inappropriate medical exemptions, really a civil rights issue?

An upside down American flag to protest a law to get kids vaccinated and protected?
An upside down American flag to protest a law to get kids vaccinated and protected?

Is SB 276 really like racism, human trafficking, LGBT discrimination, gun violence, refugee rights, sexual harassment and assault, and continued discrimination for people with disabilities, etc.?

If anything, SB 276 protects the civil rights of students with disabilities.

Consider kids with true medical exemptions who get quarantined when an intentionally unvaccinated child starts an outbreak.

“During an outbreak or potential outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease such as measles, school officials should follow existing laws and policies in a non-discriminatory manner, and should seek guidance from and defer to public health authorities in considering whether, for these students with disabilities, school officials can continue to safely make a reasonable modification to a policy, practice, or procedure that otherwise requires vaccinations in order to attend school.”

Addressing the Risk of Measles in Schools while Protecting the Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities

By eliminating unnecessary exemptions and getting more kids vaccinated and protected, SB 276 will help to stop the outbreaks that have been on the rise. It will help kids with true medical exemptions avoid quarantines and stay in school.

More on Vaccine Discrimination

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

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

Have Doctors in California Stopped Writing Medical Exemptions?

A new law in California, SB276, is getting closer to being passed, and it will help stop doctors that are writing inappropriate medical exemptions.

So why do some folks think that other doctors have stopped writing medical exemptions, even for those children who really need them?

This is not proof that doctors have stopped writing medical exemptions.

Oh, because the usual suspects are telling them that…

Have Doctors in California Stopped Writing Medical Exemptions?

The proof that Bob Sears is pushing?

Recordings of folks who called doctors, saying they recently moved to California and need a medical exemption because their child is reportedly unvaccinated after an anaphylactic reaction.

So some doctors are writing multiple inappropriate exemptions because others stopped writing true medical exemptions?
So some doctors are writing multiple inappropriate exemptions because others stopped writing true medical exemptions?

As you can imagine, this is hardly proof of anything…

For one thing, with the passage of SB 277, many parents have been searching for “vaccine-flexible” pediatricians to write medical exemptions in California, as that law eliminated non-medical exemptions.

Imagine the luck, a doctor finding medical exemptions that you didn't know that your child had!
Imagine the luck, a doctor finding medical exemptions that you didn’t know that your child had!

That likely has offices on high alert for parents whose kids do not have true medical exemptions.

“When we passed SB 277, again as we mentioned, we didn’t really touch the medical exemption, but what our expectation was is that it’s going to be your child’s regular doctor who knows the child granting them… And what we’re seeing is that actually we have physicians… who are not really the primary care doctor.

I mean I find this idea of having medical exemption visits kind of intriguing because you shouldn’t really have medical exemption visits. Either you’re the doctor or you’re not. If you’re the doctor you should take care of them. You have that relationship and if they have an issue with vaccines, you write them the exemption.

That’s it. That’s what’s supposed to normally happen. People shouldn’t be going out finding other doctors for exemptions. If you happen to see a specialist, and they think you can’t get vaccinated safely, then they either submit the exemption or they tell your primary care doctor, by the way, that child should not get vaccinated, we should get an exemption. That’s how it should normally work.”

Richard Pan SB 276 Assembly Health Committee Testimony

And although very rare, an anaphylactic reaction would certainly be a reason to get a medical exemption. It would typically only be an exemption to the vaccine that your child had the reaction to though.

“My son hadn’t been vaccinated since 12 months because he had an anaphylactic reaction and we had a personal belief exemption where we used to live.”

But why didn’t they have a medical exemption where they used to live?

And why did they stop vaccinating at 12 months?

Most importantly, if doctors in California stopped writing true medical exemptions for their patients, why is the statewide medical exemption rate at almost 1%?

So no, a video of a gotcha type phone call, even if it really was to 882 doctors in California, isn’t proof of anything, except what you can expect from the modern anti-vaccine movement.

More on Doctors Writing Medical Exemptions in California