Robert Sears (physician)
| Robert W. Sears | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Pediatrician |
| Known for | Authoring controversial book on vaccines & two alternative vaccine schedules. |
| Spouse(s) | Cheryl Sears |
| Children | Andrew, Alex, and Joshua Sears |
| Parent(s) | William and Martha Sears |
Robert W. Sears, FAAP — known as Dr. Bob — is an American pediatrician from Capistrano Beach, California, noted for his unorthodox views on childhood vaccination. His best-selling book, The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child (2007), proposes two 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. In spite of his denial that he is "anti-vaccine", he is characterized as an anti-vaccine doctor and a vaccine delayer.
Sears is well 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 and seek a "compromise" between embracing, or avoiding, vaccination. This has contributed to under-vaccination in the US child population, putting public health at risk.
Sears has written about vaccines and autism for the The Huffington Post, stating, "back in the 1990s, the party line within the medical community was that vaccines do not cause severe reactions...So the party line has changed to the opinion that such severe reactions are so rare that the general population doesn't (and shouldn't) need to worry about them." 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, he does admit 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.
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Wikipedia