The Spudd’s hero of the week is Dr. Bob Sears. Dr. Sears is a pediatrician in California and author of “The Vaccine Book,” a momentous publication detailing Dr. Sears’ feelings towards vaccines. Several of Dr. Sears’ unvaccinated patients have contracted vaccine-preventable diseases, helping to teach us that natural immunity is nothing to be feared.
This week, Dr. Sears courageously posted on his Facebook page “IF YOU DIDN’T HATE PAUL OFFIT BEFORE,” followed by a wonderfully sarcastic “praise” for Dr. Offit, which amounted to a thorough list of reasons why Dr. Offit deserves our hatred. Dr. Sears’ musings on Dr. Offit were prompted by an article in the LA Times where Dr. Offit helped teach pediatricians how to talk to “vaccine-hesitant parents.”
For those who don’t know, Dr. Paul A. Offit is an “expert” on vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine that has been credited with saving hundreds of lives every day and saving nearly 1 billion dollars in hospitalization costs. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals on the immune responses and vaccine safety, and is the author or co-author of several books on vaccines, vaccination, and antibiotics.
As you can see, Dr. Offit utterly lacks the credentials to lecture parents on vaccines. Few of our educated readers need more reasons to hate Dr. Offit, but occasionally, we get messages from people new to the “vaccine-debate” who wonder why Dr. Offit deserves to be hated so much. From now on, we will refer them to Dr. Sears’ post. By linking him with vaccine package inserts and to payouts received in vaccine court, Dr. Sears expertly helped spread the hate of Dr. Offit to a new, larger audience.
Dr. Sears is one of the few conventionally trained doctors who exemplifies what is right in American medicine. We want our children to have doctors who know not only how the body works and how to heal it, but also to be moral role models. Children may see the same pediatrician for over 20 years during the most formative time in their lives. If a good relationship exists, a child’s pediatrician can be a role model and a guide for life. Doctors like Bob Sears, who have a public persona, bear an extra responsibility to behave ethically and responsibly. Dr. Sears has lived up to this responsibility. By encouraging random denizens of the internet to hate a fellow pediatrician, one who has received even death threats in the past, Dr. Sears showed us professionalism at its highest levels.
Please let Dr. Sears how much you admire his work by buying his book, learning how to purchase a Health Coach Certification from his website, and supporting his many sponsors.
BFF’s? Dr. Bob Sears (left) with Mr. Andrew Wakefield (center)
