Up for auction "Alternative Vaccinations" Robert Sears Hand Signed 3.25X5.5 Card. 

ES-1746

Robert William Sears, known as Dr. Bob, is an American pediatrician from Capistrano Beach, California, noted for his unorthodox and dangerous views on childhood vaccination. His book, The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child (2007), proposes two alternative vaccination schedules that depart from accepted medical recommendations. His proposals have enjoyed celebrity endorsement, but are not supported by medical evidence and have contributed to dangerous under-vaccination in the national child population. While he denies being anti-vaccine, Sears is characterized as anti-vaccine and as a vaccine delayer.  Sears is known for his views on vaccine scheduling. He recommends that parents avoid or delay vaccinating their children, counter to the consensus recommendations of medical bodies, and his book recommends that parents follow his two alternative vaccine schedules, rather than that of the American Academy of Pediatrics. His proposals are popular with parents who are influenced by incorrect information propagated by anti-vaccination activists who seek a "compromise" between embracing and avoiding vaccination. This has contributed to under-vaccination in the US child population, putting public health at risk. In 2014, Sears said that he thinks "the disease danger is low enough where I think you can safely raise an unvaccinated child in today's society."  Although he is characterized as an anti-vaccine doctor and a vaccine delayer, he does admit that vaccines work: "Chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, all these diseases that we no longer see very much of anymore, I do say that the vaccines are responsible for getting rid of these." Sears is against mandatory vaccination.  Sears has encouraged parents who choose not to vaccinate their children not to tell others of their decision, writing: "I also warn them not to share their fears with their neighbors, because if too many people avoid the MMR, we'll likely see the diseases increase significantly." This position has been criticized as encouraging "free riding" on the herd immunity created by those who do vaccinate: "This is clearly immoral free-riding, it demonstrates a willingness to make unfair use of the contributions others have made to social cooperation." In 2008, Sears told the New York Times that 20% of his patients do not vaccinate at all, and that another 20% vaccinated partially. He also said that “I don’t think [vaccination] is such a critical public health issue that we should force parents into it." He continues to convey these views on his popular podcast, The Vaccine Conversation. Dorit Reiss rejects the podcast episodes as a source of medical information, as they "repeat anti-vaccine talking points, overstate vaccine risks and understate the benefits". Sears' activism includes opposition to California Senate Bill SB277, a bill which proposes to eliminate non-medical vaccine exemptions. He also invoked Godwin's law by comparing non-vaccinating parents to Nazi-persecuted Jews. A fellow pediatrician considered the comparison "disgraceful":"To compare the plight of the Jews under Hitler to that of those who willingly forego a preventive treatment that safeguards not only the health of their children, but the community as a whole is to lose all moral grounding. It is to purloin the most appalling suffering of the 20th century’s greatest victims, and assign it to those whose choices make not only themselves but their neighbors less safe. It is repulsive.... Dr. Bob Sears should be ashamed of himself."