On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, I took our son in to his pediatrician’s clinic to get a health form completed for a health survey in which we have enrolled him.
We hadn’t been there for three years. Our son is healthy, and we had no need. We used to go just for routine checkups when he was younger but eventually decided that was unnecessary, too. We were also a bit bothered that every time we went in to see our son’s primary care physician, he was seen by one of the other doctors in the practice with whom we had not scheduled an appointment.
Upon arrival in the examination room, I was disappointed but not altogether surprised to see a notice on the door providing parents with an ultimatum: get your kid vaccinated according to the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which are synonymous with the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or don’t come back:
After a wait, one of the doctors who, once again, was not our son’s primary care physician, entered the room and, shortly into the exam, asked me whether we would be doing any vaccinations. I said no. She said, “Well, we need to talk about that, then.”
Indeed.
She pointed to the sign and explained that they have a new policy. I said, yes, I had seen that before she came into the room and was disappointed that they were implementing such an unethical policy.
I said we had always appreciated the practice because we’d felt welcomed and felt that our personal choices were respected. It is disappointing to learn that you are now no longer going to respect our choices and are rejecting our right to informed consent.
She had the stupidest reply to that—a reply indicating that she, a licensed medical professional, doesn’t even understand what informed consent means. “But we are informing you!” she protested.
I said, “Yes, you are informing me that you are no longer going to respect our right to informed consent.”
She just sat across from me agape. She had nothing else to say. But I did. So, I continued my little chat with her. I explained that informed consent cannot happen in the presence of coercion, yet here they were giving parents a clear ultimatum to pressure them into following the CDC’s schedule, even though those recommendations are not in the best interest of our son.
I explained how no government bureaucrat had the knowledge of our son necessary to do a meaningful risk-benefit analysis, and how we, the parents, were the only people who had that knowledge.
I said it was insulting to be told that if we don’t obey the bureaucrats, we can’t come here anymore. We do our own research and think for ourselves, I told her. I research the medical literature, and we make our own judgments about what is in our son’s best interest.
She then expressed her faith that the recommendations were good practice. I don’t recall her exact words, but it was something like “Well, we believe in the recommendations here.”
So, I said I would like to understand her belief and asked whether she would be willing to have that conversation. She did not object, so I continued, challenging her on her belief by pointing to the example of the Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine. I pointed out that the recommendation that our son receive that shot in a three-dose series starting on the first day of his life made absolutely no sense and was not in his best interest.
I explained that the reason for this recommendation was purely political and not grounded in any scientific or medical rationale. The CDC’s reason for implementing this policy in 1991 was that they hadn’t achieved the vaccine uptake they were aiming for among the adult at-risk population, those who were sexually promiscuous or intravenous drug users, and so decided to just start indiscriminately vaccinating everyone at birth regardless of whether the mother is a carrier.
She interjected to say something about they do routine screening so that if the expectant mother is a carrier, the baby can be vaccinated.
I said, yes, that’s right, and if my wife was a carrier, we would have considered getting him—I pointed to my son sitting beside me—that vaccine, but she’s not, so it made absolutely no sense. And they don’t just recommend it for infants born to carrier mothers, I reiterated; they recommend it for all children even when the children are not at risk from the disease.
Tacitly conceding my point, she replied that that was just one recommendation.
I said yes, but it’s a clear illustration of how the recommendations are about achieving the policy goal of high vaccination rates rather than being about ensuring the health of our children.
That is inarguable, I posited. It’s not in his best interest, and it was insulting to be told that this would be best for him as though we were incapable of thinking for ourselves and making our own decision.
She sat speechless. I felt she was struggling to think of something to say but at the same time was recognizing that what I’d said truly was inarguable. So, I continued.
“We’re called ‘anti-vaxxers’”, I said disdainfully, using my fingers to place air quotes around the term, “for thinking for ourselves instead of following recommendations that make no sense for our son.”
We were expected to get that shot at the hospital where he was born, I explained, but declined. “It was hard,” I said, recalling to myself how the doctors had tried to pressure us into getting him the shot and became upset with us over our refusal. “Our choice was not respected. But we have to do what we know is best for him.” I again pointed to my son beside me.
So, it’s disappointing, I concluded, that you now have an unethical policy of trying to force recommendations on us that are not in our son’s interests and are refusing to respect our choices and our right to informed consent.
She had no rebuttal. I obviously don’t know what she was thinking or feeling, but I got the sense from the stunned look on her face that my words had shaken her to her core. I did not get the sense that she was thinking, “There is obviously no reasoning with this person.” I got the sense that she was not feeling quite so good, in that moment, about their new policy, and that she was thinking, “He’s right. I can’t argue with that.” She did not attempt to.
Instead, she said something about how she was not the individual responsible for the policy and asked me whether I would like for her to complete the exam because she would like to do so.
“Yes, please,” I said. We got our form completed for the health survey. As we were leaving, I informed the person at the front desk that we were just told that we were being expelled from the practice and that I would like to receive a letter stating that in writing. They said they would mail one. We left, health form in hand, mission accomplished.
In my major exposé of how, after he published a study indicating that his completely unvaccinated patients were by far the healthiest children in his practice, Dr. Paul Thomas’s license was suspended by the Oregon Medical Board because he respects parents’ right to informed consent, I wrote:
In many cases in Portland, parents who face the scornful intimidation of a routine well-child visit at their pediatrician’s office and still insist on exercising their right to make an informed choice not to vaccinate are told that they must either comply with the CDC’s recommendations or find another pediatrician.
And, so, they go to Dr. Paul.
Unfortunately, we do not have a Dr. Paul in our area. I do not think that we are going to be able to find a primary care physician that will be respectful of our right to decide for ourselves what is in our son’s best interest. In an endnote for that paragraph, I had shared the following:
Fortunately, my wife and I have not personally experienced this as our son’s pediatrician ultimately chose to respect our right to informed consent and so we were able to maintain an amicable doctor-patient relationship. However, we were expelled from the practice of the only pediatric dentist in town because we persistently declined fluoride treatment. She lied on his dental record, stating that he had several cavities. He was three then. We showed his X-rays to another dentist whom we trusted, and he agreed with us that it showed no cavities, which he also confirmed with an oral examination. We continued taking our son to biannual cleanings at another local clinic, where dentists also confirmed for years after that he had no cavities. I filed a complaint with the state licensing board, but the board sided with her, thereby granting its approval of her expelling my son from her practice on account of us exercising our right to informed consent. This experience reflects the experience of many parents with their pediatrician over vaccination choices.
I have now updated that to relate the experience I had a couple days ago of being expelled from our son’s pediatric practice for declining to fully comply with the CDC/AAP vaccine recommendations:
Fortunately, my wife and I have not personally experienced this as our son’s pediatrician ultimately chose to respect our right to informed consent and so we were able to maintain an amicable doctor-patient relationship. [Update, May 21, 2021: Just since publishing this article, my family has also experienced this kind of bullying due to a policy change at our son’s pediatric practice. On May 5, 2021, we were given an ultimatum by one of the doctors there to either vaccinate him according to the AAP’s recommendations (synonymous with the CDC’s recommendations) or never come back. We declined the unnecessary and risk-carrying pharmaceutical products and so were expelled.]
If you have not yet read that article, please do so. I put three months of labor into it and, with the exception of my book Obstacle to Peace, consider it to be the most important thing I’ve written to date. Please also share it with others because it’s full of empowering knowledge about the problems with public vaccine policy.
The Expulsion Letter We Received from the Pediatric Practice
As I’d requested, we received a formal letter postmarked May 12, 2021, that stated the ultimatum to either vaccinate our son according to the CDC’s schedule or accept expulsion from the practice. On the letterhead were the names of the four physicians in the group practice, including the man who had been our son’s primary care physician for most of the eight years of our son’s life.
Here is the full text of the letter:
Love it! Thank you for all you do and for making noise and spreading awareness about this and taking a stance against these medical bullies! Non vaccinated family here all healthy & happy and no ones been sick or died yet during all this “ pandemic “.
Excellent reply, too bad there wasn’t a reply to your message. It’s possible that pediatricians are bullied themselves into mandating vaccines. Unfortunately I also believe pediatricians and 99% of all physicians believe in vaccines. I doubt they know half of what you know in their specialty regarding vaccines.
I only just mailed my response letter to them yesterday (the day I published this article). I doubt that I will receive a response, but it’s possible someone there will do so.
Excellent rebuttal! Though I would be very surprised if they actually read your letter. Vaccinism is a powerful religion. As David Taylor said, “The “science” supporting this religious dogma cannot be questioned any more than the Holy Word can be questioned at an evangelical tent revival.”
This is why I sent it to each of the four physicians in the clinic separately, as opposed to writing one letter addressed to all the doctors there. Better chance of at least one of them actually reading it.
Your son is well named but his burden continues (biblically). I, too, opted my kids out. Alas, the consequences of our medical cabal will unnaturally accelerate the human evolution. It is curious, many of the pediatric faith are both intellectual and dogmatic. Please continue to lead the way. You have a keen mastery of words and logic.
Thank you. My namesake is Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) so Eliyahu (Elijah) seemed fitting. Indeed, his burden does continue. We are doing our best to raise him to be able to bear and rise above it.
BRAVO!! I am an Family NP who has been HORRIFIED with my “colleagues” for their lack of knowledge regarding true vaccine history AND vaccine research. I abhor their arrogance. self-righteousness and tyranny. I have been in medicine now for 31 years and continue to hold fast to the “old time medicine”. I do house calls and do not accept insurance. I want my only allegiance to be with the patient and the family, not to some faceless third party (whether State or Corporate entity). I keep my rates affordable with minimal overhead. I tell my families: “I’m like the pizza delivery guy– I tell you your options, what might favorites might be (if asked), but its YOUR life/body/pizza!”
Great letter! Super article! I hope more people start standing UP for their lives!!
Thanks!
Thank you for your well thought out response to your pediatrician’s demands for vaccination. I stopped vaccinating my daughter when she was 3 years old (over 52 years ago) and used a religious exemption so that she could attend school. I didn’t know what was in vaccines at the time, but I was studying natural hygiene and reading the work of Westin Price. It made sense to me to strengthen her natural immunity and stop vaccinating altogether. My daughter is nearly 55 and is in remarkably good health. Her classmates were out sick several times each school year, but she had nearly perfect attendance. I am now called an antivaxxer because I’ve refused the Covid-19 jab. I am horrified to see my friends and neighbors march off to willingly get this gene altering poison injected into their bodies. My worst fear is that I will be attending many funerals in the next few years and/or witnessing a massive decline in health. It’s tragic.
I am also horrified to know that loved ones have subjected themselves to a mass uncontrolled experiment without any data on long-term effects from randomized placebo-controlled trials, and I do fear for the potential negative consequences to their health in the long-term. People are so uneducated and succumb to the fearmongering and deceitful propaganda.
Spot ON, Jeremy! Very well said. They should also be reminded that they are REQUIRED to practice informed consent. It is not an optional practice, it is an obligation under state, federal, and international law. A lawsuit is apparently the only means to educate them on this fact.
I wish I had the resources to be able to provide them with that necessary education!
You were given the right of informed consent. You did your research and have made your choice not to vaccinate your child. Your problem is that you want the doctors to let your child still be seen at their practice when your beliefs don’t align with theirs. You are asking them to go against their beliefs to provide care for your son. They are saying that if you don’t share their beliefs about vaccination, then your child would be better served with a practitioner who shares your beliefs. If theirs is a private practice, they have the right to say if you don’t want to vaccinate your child then they won’t see your child. If you go to a health system pediatric office where they receive public funding, they can’t say that.
I understand your logic in your baby not needing a Hepatitis B vaccine at birth but I do believe he should get the series. At some point in his life, he could be exposed to hepatitis b and not by being a IV drug user or having sex with person who is a sex worker. But by a person who was immunized but didn’t build immunity and acquires hep b and gives your son hepatitis b which puts him at risk for chronic liver disease and cancer.
I also object to “anti vaxxers “ who say their children are healthier than vaccinated kids. There are plenty of vaccinated children who are extremely healthy without an illness year after year. Who don’t have allergies or autoimmune diseases. Genetics play a major role in health issues. The majority of children are extremely healthy.
I have been a RN for 46 years and a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for 31 years. In my years as a PNP in practice, we never coerced families to vaccinate their children, we try to work with the families, trying to understand their views, explaining about the need for vaccines, working out an alternative schedule if they want. I have asked parents to share their information and research against vaccines but have never received that information. In my lifetime, I have seen babies and children die from meningococcal meningitis, pertussis and rubella contracted in utero. I have seen toddlers with subacute epiglottis from Hib, severe complications from varicella, children hospitalized with severe dehydration from rotavirus, and pneumonia from pneumococcal infections. Since vaccines, these infections are almost nonexistent including the incidence of ear infections. The benefits of vaccines by far outweigh the risks. Children are healthier now due to vaccines.
Lastly, the myth that pediatricians fiscally benefit from vaccines is false. We don’t make money on administering them, there are no kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. A portion of children receive their vaccines through Vaccines for Children which is through the federal government so there is no money exchanged.
I really would like to see your sources so I can read what has shaped your views.
We exercised our right not to get him vaccinated and were expelled for it. Giving parents such an ultimatum is a direct violation of the right to informed consent as informed consent cannot occur under such conditions of coercion. I explained that in my letter, and it’s easy to comprehend, so the fact that you pretend not to get it tells us a lot.
I did not ask for your medical advice, and you should not be giving medical advice to complete strangers. You know nothing about my child. How dare you! This is highly irresponsible of you. Our decision on this one is a no-brainer: our son simply is not at risk, and therefore there is no point in even considering getting him injected in a three-dose series with an aluminum-containing vaccine. We choose not to put him unnecessarily at risk of harm.
Our son is observably healthier than the general population of highly vaccinated children. This is an empirical reality in our particular case, and the generalizability of our observation is also supported by data from several studies, including Dr. Paul’s, as I noted in my letter. Please do not try to gaslight me. It is vain.
Also, please do not use the term “anti-vaxxers” as it a derogatory label. I am not an “anti-vaxxer”. I am pro-truth and pro-informed consent.
You are simply repeating the same argument of ignorance fallacy that I identified in my letter. Your statement here is nothing more than an expression of faith. Again an individual risk-benefit analysis is always required for each vaccine and each child.
It is not a “myth” that pediatricians have a financial conflict of interest by pushing vaccines. This is not “false”. It is true. Why are you trying to lie to us and gaslight us?
“However, my practice of three physicians and two nurse practitioners enjoys steady revenue from immunizations, with vaccine reimbursement sometimes exceeding that for the rest of the visit.” — Jamie Loehr, MD, American Academy of Family Physicians
https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2015/0300/p24.html
“More than 40% of pediatricians received payments from industry in 2014…. Most payments were associated with medications that treat attention-deficient/hyperactivity disorder and vaccinations.” — Pediatrics, May 2016
https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-4440
“Doctors Prescribe More of a Drug If They Receive Money from a Pharma Company Tied to It” —
https://www.propublica.org/article/doctors-prescribe-more-of-a-drug-if-they-receive-money-from-a-pharma-company-tied-to-it
“Vaccine Practice Payment Schedules Create Perverse Incentives for Unnecessary Medical Procedures – at What Cost to Patients?” — International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research
https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/21
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (my home state) has been known to pay doctors a financial incentive to keep a certain percentage of their patients up to date on the CDC’s vaccine schedule.
http://whale.to/c/2016-BCN-BCBSM-Incentive-Program-Booklet.pdf
Why are you lying to us? The CDC tells doctors that a benefit of the VFC is that they receive the vaccines at no cost to themselves and can charge a fee for the office visit and an administrative fee to deliver them, reimbursable through Medicaid or other insurance provider:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/providers/questions/qa-flyer-hcp.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/about/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/providers/medicaid.html
As noted in the above study in the IJVTPR, doctors who forego vaccinations by respecting parents’ right to choose rather than pressuring them into adhering to the CDC’s schedule lose considerable revenue due to the opportunity cost of administrative fees.
I will allow you an opportunity to reply respectfully and reasonably. If you condescend to me again, as you did by telling me I made the wrong choice for our son by not doing the HepB shot with him, calling me an “anti-vaxxer”, etc.; if you try to gaslight me or insult my intelligence again; or if you spread more misinformation in a vain attempt to defend the indefensible policy I rightly criticized in my letter, your commenting privilege will be revoked.
I’m going to bump up my monthly donation to you. This response was fantastic.
Thanks for your support!
All I can say is WOW. This was amazing. Thank you. I too was kicked out of my sons peditriciations office 12 years ago! I left in tears but I never regretted my choice to keep my son healthy.. I will continue to fight and protect my children. I only wish I had written a letter like this back then!!! Thank you.
I am glad to hear that you made the right choice for your son!
To pile on the heartbreaking, appalling facts: There’s at least a 99% chance that the facts and medical references Hammond included in his letter were news to the pediatricians in that clinic. I’ve never seen any reason to believe that physicians educate themselves.
Although I always ask for an individual risk/benefit analysis anytime a physician recommends a shot, I have never encountered a physician or nurse who knew the risks well enough to perform such an analysis–I can always tell it’s the very first time any of them read even the package insert.
To be fair, when I presented one doctor with information I’d obtained from a friend of ours (who was at that time a State Department doctor specializing in infectious diseases) that a certain disease had not been present for 40 years in the area of Africa to which we were travelling and that the manufacturer specifically recommended AGAINST the vaccination for people over 60, my physician backed off, but he had been ready mindlessly to administer that vaccination had I not come prepared with a message from a more knowledgable physician.
I also presume that most of the information I presented to the pediatricians was totally new to them.
Absolutely brilliant. I have shared most of Jeremy’s writings with others…thanks for your most prolific and excellent work.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Bravo, you did the right thing. I’m sorry you and your family had to experience this bullying by “medical professionals.” These people and institutions have the backing of policy makers, social services, the education system, etc. Where are parents supposed to turn after being kicked out of a main stream practice? Will we be charged with neglect? Worse? So far our Dr. has been very understanding and I hope we don’t experience this. Thank you for standing up for yourself and for us!
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I call bullshit on your story, Germy. Name the pediatric practice or I will state you are lying. And if you do name that practice I will make sure they know, because that way they can sue you for lying. Idiots like you don’t care enough about your kids to see a pediatrician.
You have violated the terms of use of the comments section of this website and therefore are no longer welcome to exercise the privilege of participating in the discussion here.
It’s ironic you’re calling me an idiot when you employ such ridiculous logic. This irrationality is especially concerning coming from a doctor, and only serves to bolster my point about how doctors like you cannot be trusted.
First, you present us with the syllogism: if I don’t name the practice, therefore I must have fabricated this whole story. This is a non sequitur fallacy. The conclusion does not follow logically from the premise.
Second, you present us with the syllogism: if I do name the practice, therefore they will be able to sue me for having fabricated this whole story. So, we can see that you are accusing me of lying regardless of whether I acceded to your demand to name the practice. You are begging the question by starting with the premise that I’ve lied so that whether I do or do not name the practice, you will continue to accuse me of lying.
You couple that irrationality with the even more irrational accusation that I do not love my son. Obviously, I would not have gone through so much trouble to research the medical literature for myself if I didn’t care about my son’s health. We would not have established for him another primary care physician who promised to respect our right to make our own informed choices.
Therefore, we can see that you have proven yourself incapable of reason and have resorted instead to baseless personal attacks without even attempting to identify any factual or logical errors in my letter, which, again, is highly concerning behavior coming from a doctor that only serves to prove my whole point about the untrustworthiness of doctors.
I have had many interactions with Chris H, he is a penultimate asshole.
That he is an asshole is certainly evident from his stupid claim that I made this whole story up.
Jeremy: Your letter to the practice was the most eloquent, forceful, referenced, up-to-date and well-documented summaries of the issues with the childhood vaccination schedule I have ever read, and I’m fairly well informed. You said so many things that I would like to say to not only that practice but the sadly compromised profession of pediatrics. You are taking it to a whole new level. Just bought your book. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for that positive feedback! I really appreciate it.
Dear Jeremy, Thank you so much! Your article is one of the best things I have ever read, if not the very best. I say this as a 68-year-old who has completed all the coursework for a PhD in research management at The University of Illinois. You have well documented each claim that you have made. I really appreciate it. Well done! Tracie F Gib
Hi Tracie. Thanks for the encouraging feedback!
Exceptionally well written. How I admire your courage
Thank you!
Bravo! I was cheering you on the entire time it took for me to read your rebuttal to the Pediatric office. I don’t have any children, but if I did I would never subject them to vaccination — I know too much about the risks thanks to Barbara Loe Fisher at National Vaccine Information Center and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. & Mary Holland at Children’s Health Defense, both of whom I’ve followed for many years. I truly think most doctors are totally unaware of the facts about vaccines because they don’t learn anything about them in medical school except that they’re “safe & effective” and mandatory for every child! They’ve been brainwashed just like most of the rest of the world. I’m so glad the COVID crisis woke people up about the corruption in the public health sector and I’m hoping that if Trump wins in November we’ll see a sweeping change in that industry for the better with RFK, Jr. at the helm.
Thanks, Susan. I discuss how doctors don’t learn about vaccines in medical school in my book “The War on Informed Consent”, which RFK Jr wrote the Foreword to:
https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/product/the-war-on-informed-consent/