With the exception of actual catastrophic mass killings, it’s a really terrible idea to compare anything to the Holocaust. That anyone would lack the common sense or decency to need reminding of this is truly astonishing. And yet, someone needs to tell Dr. Bob Sears. Dr. Sears, a California pediatrician, is best known as the author of The Vaccine Book. In it, he advises parents to make the “right decision” for their children, and to space vaccines out rather than give them according to the standard schedule (PDF) recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control…. In rather hyperbolic language, he describes the psychological scars their parents seem to bear and their apparent paranoia before they disclose to him that they don’t want their kids vaccinated. He then hastens to reassure them that they are welcome, and that half of his patients aren’t vaccinated, a state of affairs he seems to think is just dandy. And then he loses his ever-loving mind.
My feelings on those who oppose vaccinating children should by now be well-known to anyone who’s hung ‘round this corner of da Interwebz for anything length of time…but beating that dead horse isn’t necessarily my purpose here. No, I’m trying to figure out why a doctor pushing an anti-vaccine agenda would default to describing those who oppose vaccination as being traumatized in much the same way as Holocaust survivors.
Wait for it…Godwin’s Law invoked in 4…3…2….
Dr. Russell Saunders, the author of this piece, is very clear in his conviction that the research shows spacing vaccines out is ridiculous, ineffective, and only exposes children to communicable diseases for a longer period of time. Giving vaccines in combination doesn’t overwhelm a child’s immune system, and in fact the available data shows it to be quite safe. Dr. Saunders is a pediatrician who won’t accept patients whose parents refuse to allow them to be vaccinated, and he’s very clear about why this is his policy. He’s simply decided that he’s not about to participate in perpetuating what he feels to be an ignorant, dangerous sham which only serves to place medically fragile and vulnerable children in greater peril. He recognizes empirical, demonstrable truth for what it is and he’s willing to take a stand for it.
The moral of the story from his perspective is that vaccines work and parents shouldn’t be granted the option of opting their children out of required vaccination protocols. Which makes him Just. Like. Hitler, don’tchaknow?
According to Dr. Sears, this means I am happy to pin yellow stars to the parents who must find their way to doctors like him. This means I am treating them like the Third Reich treated the Jews. By telling these parents the onus of their decisions is theirs to bear, I have become like Goebbels and Mengele.
As a gay man who is Jewish on one side, you can imagine how tickled I am by this implication. I am delighted to be compared to those who would happily have had me gassed at their first opportunity.
Perhaps sensing he may have gone a bit off the rails, Dr. Sears appends what must be the most confusing “disclaimer” I have ever seen in my life to his post.
“This post is not intended as a reference to a holocaust,” he concludes. “It’s (obviously) a reference to the discrimination and prejudice felt by the Jewish people many years ago. But, it is not intended to compare vaccination or non-vaccination to a holocaust. If the historical parallel bothers you, maybe it should.”
Um. It bothers me. It bothers me because it is disgraceful.
It’s one thing when lay people act (or don’t) out of ignorance and misinformation. People are stupid, and stupid people can be counted on to do some truly intellectually vacant and occasionally dangerous things. When a doctor is pushing an ignorance-based agenda AND invoking Godwin’s Law while doing so…well, that’s some weapons-grade stoopid, y’all.
Claiming that anti-vaccine parents bear psychological scars of the sort incurred by Holocaust survivors is the very definition of absurd. Not only is it an insult to those who actually suffered at the hands of the Nazis, it cheapens the discussion by providing anti-vaccine parents with a moral lifeline to cling to. If you can’t handle being clearly, incontrovertibly, and frequently revealed to be wrong, that’s your problem. If you’re going to believe stupid, provably wrong things, you’d best be prepared to have that pointed out to you…especially when your grossly, demonstrably errant beliefs have the potential to adversely impact public health. Children should not be contracting communicable disease, some of which were considered to be virtually eradicated until Jenny McCarthy lend her celebrity to the cause of those who fear vaccines. There is no “managing” a communicable disease, as I’ve heard some in my own family claim to be possible. There is only needless, preventable suffering- perhaps even death- that can be directly tied to parental ignorance and negligence. Dr. Sears is merely preached to and manipulating the choir for his own selfish ends.
Anti-vaccine parents are psychologically abused and traumatized in the same way Green Bay Packers fans are for choosing to live in Wisconsin. Making poor decisions and being called out for those bad choices isn’t being traumatized; it’s being called out for making stupid choices for indefensible reasons.
Dr. Sears is undoubtedly a hero to those propagandized into believing that vaccines are dangerous to their precious snowflake, whose well-being is evidently of FAR more concern than, and overrides any perceived responsibility to protect, public health. His Nazi-themed analogies only provides cover for those who feel persecuted for wanting to protect their children…except that they’re not protecting their children.
Dr. Saunders makes a reasoned and rational argument for why and how Dr. Sears went off the rails. What it comes down to is the reality that one is free to their opinion, but not their own facts. In this case, the data is clear and incontrovertible- vaccines work. Medical science has accumulated over a century’s worth of research showing vaccines to be effective in preventing communicable childhood diseases. Are they perfectly safe? Of course not; what in this life is? Why do anti-vaccine parents default to demanding their “right” to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good? And why are they allowed to indulge what amounts to a desire to selfishly endanger public health?
Making stupid decisions for indefensible reasons isn’t a crime…but when those decisions may potentially adversely impact society as a whole, it’s time to draw the line. Providing anti-vaccine parents with the cover of Godwin’s Law is as patently absurd as it is potentially dangerous. Dr. Sears, in the service of his own ego and self-interest, is arguably violating the Hippocratic Oath he swore when he became a doctor.
Stupid can be on it’s second lap around the globe before reason and intelligence manage to drag their ass out of bed….
