California doctor critical of vaccines is punished for exempting 2-year-old boy from all childhood immunizations

In a decision that could signal how California’s fierce vaccine debates will play out in the coming years, the Medical Board of California has ordered 35 months’ probation for Dr. Bob Sears, an Orange County pediatrician well-known for being sympathetic to parents opposed to vaccines.

In 2016, the board threatened to revoke Sears’ medical license for wrongly writing a doctor’s note for a 2-year-old boy that exempted him from all childhood vaccinations. This week, the medical board settled on a lesser punishment.

Sears can keep practicing medicine but will be required to take 40 hours of medical education courses a year, as well as an ethics class, and also be monitored by a fellow doctor. He also must notify all hospital and medical facilities where he practices of the order and is not allowed to supervise physician assistants or nurse practicioners.

The doctor’s supporters expressed relief that he was not more severely punished, while critics were pleased that the state did more than simply reprimand him, as some had feared.

More:

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-sears-license-20180629-story.html

Can opt out of union dues, but not vaccines. Crazy