Robert W Sears Popular Books

Robert W Sears Biography & Facts

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. While Sears acknowledges the efficacy of vaccines—for instance, he supports the claim that Chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria have all disappeared because of vaccines—he has proposed 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 has been described by many as anti-vaccine and as a vaccine delayer. Views on vaccines 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, Sears does say 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 compared 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." Alternative vaccine schedules In 2007, Sears published The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision For Your Child through the Sears Parenting Library, and, as of 2012, it had sold more than 180,000 copies, and garnered support from celebrities. The book includes his two alternative vaccine schedules: "Dr Bob’s Selective Vaccine Schedule" is for those "who want to decline or to delay vaccines". "Dr Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule" is for those "who worry that children are receiving too many vaccines too early". This schedule involves spreading out the vaccines received by the child, and separating some vaccines that would otherwise be combined. The book has been described by Vox as "basically a guide to skipping vaccines," and that "it may as well be called The Anti-Vaccine Book." Sears has said that he created his alternative vaccine schedules to allow parents to vaccinate their children "in a more gradual manner" rather than by following the schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His notions, for example that vaccination risks causing "antigenic overload", are, however, based on misconceptions and not sound scientific evidence. On an episode of All In with Chris Hayes, Sears admitted that there was no published, peer-reviewed evidence to support the notion of vaccine overload, and that "my precautions about spreading out vaccines are theoretical, a theoretical benefit to kids..." Health journalist Julia Belluz has stated: "From a scientific standpoint, Sears is a quack: while he claims to be a vaccines expert, he is not a researcher and has never conducted his own vaccine science." Regarding his theory of vaccine overload, "according to the data mustered by the scientific community, he's simply wrong." In 2008, Sears' "intentionally undervaccinated" seven-year-old patient was identified as the index patient who started a measles epidemic in 2008, an epidemic which was the largest outbreak in San Diego since 1991. The epidemic "resulted in 839 exposed persons, 11 additional cases (all in unvaccinated children), and the hospitalization of an infant too young to be vaccinated....[with] a net public-sector cost of $10,376 per case.... 48 children too young to be vaccinated were quarantined, at an average family cost of $775 per child". Reception Sears' viewpoints and The Vaccine Book have been criticized by the press and numerous medical professionals. Paul Offit wrote that "Sears sounds many antivaccine messages" in the book. Sears has been criticized by David Gorski, who wrote that Sears is anti-vaccine, and by Emily Willingham, who has dismissed The Vaccine Book as "non-evidence-based." Steven Novella criticized the book's attempt to tell both sides of, and assume a moderate position in, the vaccine debate as like "trying to compromise between mutually exclusive positions, like Young Earth creationism and evolution". Pediatrician Rahul Parikh has said Sears is someone whose "understanding of vaccines is deeply flawed," that his Vaccine Book "is a nightmare for pediatricians like me," and "is peppered with misleading innuendo and factual errors". He also writes that "Sears misleads parents," using "tactics [like] soft science, circular logic, reporting rumors and outright falsehoods". Peter Lipson, a physician who write.... Discover the Robert W Sears popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert W Sears books.