Richard Pan is the state senator who launched a thousand flame wars.
To those who believe vaccines are essential for keeping school children safe from disease, the Sacramento Democrat is a hero and champion.
For those who have alternative views on vaccination, he is the man eroding their rights.
Pan’s Twitter account almost exclusively features posts about vaccines. And, comments on nearly every item quickly devolve into the worst of social media. Each side derides the other. Both question the science the other group cites. There is plenty of name-calling.
The recent measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest has brought the vaccination issue back into the national spotlight.
GV Wire reached out to Pan to ask what his future legislative plans are on the vaccine issue. Click on the image above to listen to the interview.
While Pan said he didn’t plan to author a bill by the Feb. 22 deadline to introduce new legislation, that doesn’t mean something isn’t coming during the year. Legislators can still change an existing bill or completely rewrite one.
“We’ve looked at a variety of different options, so legislation certainly one of them; breaking our regulatory approaches, other types of approaches as well. And so as those discussions evolve we’ll have some more clarity as to exactly what next steps will be,” Pan said.
On Thursday (Feb. 21), Pan introduced SB 483, a vague bill that seems to be the perfect placeholder.
SB 277 Launched the War
Pan’s SB 277 in 2015 removed the personal belief exemption parents could use to avoid vaccination requirements for children attending public schools. The debate was passionate and the opposition was fierce.
While the legislation eliminated that exemption, parents could still turn to doctors to opt out of vaccines for medical reasons.
According to a California Department of Public Health study, while overall children with vaccinations increased 4.7% since SB 277, the number of medical exemptions also increased, nearly tripling (0.2% to 0.7% among kindergartners).
A study by medical publication Pediatrics concluded that “Potential explanations for this steep increase include underuse of medical exemptions before SB277 (when PBEs could still be obtained) and the willingness of some physicians to write medical exemptions for parents who are vaccine hesitant whose children may lack scientifically justified medical contraindications as defined by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.”
Fighting Fraud
Because of that, Pan is exploring future legislation to tighten rules for doctors granting medical exemptions.
“When you advertise that you, for a fee you’ll grant a medical exemption or you’ll evaluate a patient for a medical exemption for cash that probably isn’t… that doesn’t sound like that’s a normal course of business.” — Sen. Richard Pan
In the past, Pan accused doctors who write such exemptions of engaging in fraud and abusing their power.
Asked to explain what evidence Pan had for such accusations, he said, “When you advertise that you, for a fee you’ll grant a medical exemption or you’ll evaluate a patient for a medical exemption for cash, that probably isn’t … that doesn’t sound like that’s a normal course of business.”
Pan is also basing his suspicions on a pediatrics report that surveyed local health officials. That publication surveyed 40 health officials from around the state, who relayed anecdotal evidence of the implementation of medical exemptions following enactment of SB 277. None of those survey participants, however, were from the legal or medical regulation field.
Not Punishing Those Who Don’t Get Vaccinated
“It’s not punishment for people who don’t want to vaccinate their children. In fact, they can choose not to do so. They have options like homeschooling or independent study. It’s about protecting the other kids at school. You have children attending school who are at risk if they get exposed to the disease. … And we need to keep them safe.” — Sen. Richard Pan
One of the chief criticisms of Pan’s SB 277 was that it took away parental rights for those who viewed vaccines differently than the government. Pan insists that isn’t so.
“It’s not punishment for people who don’t want to vaccinate their children. In fact, they can choose not to do so. They have options like homeschooling or independent study. It’s about protecting the other kids at school. You have children attending school who are at risk if they get exposed to the disease. … And we need to keep them safe,” Pan said.
Pan said that future legislation would not require homeschool children to get vaccinated. He also said that any such laws would pertain just to the right to go to a public school, and not any other part of public interaction.
Hold Doctors Accountable
“The issue is really about the physicians who are basically violating their professional ethics. They’re not following the standard of care, and actually putting the public at risk.” — Sen. Richard Pan
Pan said he wants to hold doctors accountable for offering what he calls fraudulent medical exemptions.
“The issue is really about the physicians who are basically violating their professional ethics. They’re not following the standard of care, and actually putting the public at risk,” Pan said.
He contrasts California’s approach to that of West Virginia’s, which does not allow for medical exemptions. While not suggesting that model for California, Pan said legislation could include a review of doctor-written exemptions by a state or local health board.
Informed Consent
On Pan’s Twitter feed, he linked to a Guardian story that noted that informed consent is “language that anti-vaccine propagandists have adopted to fight vaccination laws.”
The concept of informed consent is that parents must actively agree to any medical procedure on their children, including vaccine shots.
Pan endorses the concept.
“Unfortunately, the people opposed to vaccines are making claims that, oh, we’re forcing them to be vaccinated. Actually, no. They have a choice. They can choose whether to vaccinate or not. In order for a child to get vaccinated, parents have to give informed consent — no child is being vaccinated without their consent. If they choose not to vaccinate, there’s a consequence.”
“The consequence isn’t to punish them or the child — although there’s certainly the child’s deserving of protection. I think one can argue about that choice. But, we’re not actually imposing it on them. The parents can still choose to leave their child vulnerable to these diseases by not vaccinating them. However, what we can’t do is allow them to risk other people’s children.”
Product Liability
Another issue argued by vaccine skeptics is a lack of liability by manufacturers.
In 1986, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. According to the National Vaccine Information Center (which Pan calls a “misnamed organization”), an advocacy group which helped craft the 33-year old legislation, the act created a compensation fund for those claiming vaccine injury. Nearly $4 billion has been awarded through the fund.
The legislation also created a database for those reporting vaccine injuries. In the first six weeks of 2019 alone, VAERS, as the database is known, lists more than 400 incidents.
Some skeptics say that the fund shields manufacturers from lawsuits. Pan defends the program.
“(If there is an injury) after you get vaccinated, when it’s actually caused by the vaccine or not, you get compensation and your attorney gets compensation as well for bringing that up. OK. That’s a pretty good deal because normally if you want to go to court, you have to go to court and get the lawyer and you might lose and you have to prove this,” Pan said.
william seaberry
February 23, 2019 at 2:45 pm
panicking over measles that since 2003 in the US has killed only 2 people, when the MMR vaccine according to the VAERS database has killed over 400. Under NO circumstances should a medical procedure be mandated.
Rebel Siren
March 31, 2019 at 3:40 pm
“An unjust law is no law at all.” – Augustine
What a marketing plan! Make people sick (thinning the herd culling the weak, making lifelong customers out the strong) with vaccines, then gouge us with soaring drug prices, since vaccine manufacturers also make the medications for the diseases their vaccines cause, in case this fact has escaped us. History has taught their scientists exactly how to achieve this by formulating them with retroviruses, etc., for instance, the polio vaccine exposed 98 million people to cancer in the ’50s-’60s from contaminated SV40. They’re getting away with this, they aren’t liable by law, plus they do their own “safety studies”, so no one can prove it’s the vaccines causing disease, despite the growing number of vaccine injured who are then discredited and dismissed as “antivaxxer”. Why do so many people still not see through this and continue to “believe vaccines are for health” and let bought legislators like Pan force unsafe pharma products for his own personal gain under the guise of “public health” at the expense of our children? https://rebelsiren.wordpress.com/2019/03/13/i-am-pro-health-arent-you-questioning-vaccine-safety/
KM
February 23, 2019 at 3:47 pm
Senator Pan has a habit of just saying what comes to mind, whether it’s the truth or not. Such as this statement, which is very inaccurate: “(If there is an injury) after you get vaccinated, when it’s actually caused by the vaccine or not, you get compensation and your attorney gets compensation as well for bringing that up. OK. That’s a pretty good deal because normally if you want to go to court, you have to go to court and get the lawyer and you might lose and you have to prove this,” Pan said.
No, Senator Pan, that is NOT how it works. The reporter David Taub should have talked with a San Diego parent who has actually filed a case for injury to their child (I can think of two such parents off the top of my head). First you have to find a lawyer willing to take the case, which is not easy (maybe because they aren’t going to be paid for years?), and you have to understand that you are going to spend years on this case and it is going to be an adversarial process (it wasn’t supposed to be, but that is what has happened). You need to understand that you are going to have to provide reams of medical records backing up the claim and expert medical witnesses who will fly out there and testify on your child’s behalf. If you can provide very strong proof that there is most likely a connection between the vaccine received and your child’s injury or death, then – after years have passed – you may get compensation. One San Diego woman received $50,000 or $60,000 for her child’s permanent injury (can’t remember the exact amount) after years of going through this process. I’m sure that went a long way towards paying for her child’s medical care (yes, that’s sarcasm). She spoke on a local San Diego news channel in 2015, if I can find the video I will post a link.
Then there is the fact that so many parents don’t even know about this court system until the statute of limitations has passed (2 years after death, 3 years after injury). Assemblyman Travis Allen introduced AB 2832 in 2016 to try to address this problem. It was the simplest bill you’d ever seen – literally one sentence. The purpose of the bill was to put a link to two .gov web sites: the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), which Senator Pan so erroneously described, on the California Department of Health website. Big money (from guess who) lobbied against it and this common sense bill, that would have helped more parents have the information they need when they need it, failed immediately.
FedUP
February 25, 2019 at 1:57 pm
YES! If ANYONE is abusing power, it is PAN!
Kayla W.
February 26, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Thank you, KM, for providing this accurate information on the U.S. vaccine injury compensation program. I’m the parent of a vaccine-injured child and I know several other parents of vaccine-injured children. None of us filed a claim with NVICP. Besides the years-long hassle and the fact that most claims are denied, there’s the problem that it’s very difficult to get any doctor to acknowledge that your child was injured by a vaccine…so how are you going to provide the necessary medical documentation?
When my own baby had been sick nonstop, with a variety of awful adverse effects, for three weeks following a DTaP injection, the doctor said “I don’t know enough about bad reactions to vaccines to advise you on this.” He called the vaccine manufacturer and was told “This is a normal reaction to DTaP” — and he chose to believe it.
I filed a VAERS report on my child’s Vaccine adverse effects myself, since her doctor wasn’t going to file. Recently I looked up my child’s record in the VAERS system. It’s interesting to see that the FDA (which oversees VAERS) has tagged my child’s record with 18 different SMQs (search terms meant to aid researchers) including encephalitis, encephalopathy, meningitis, and anaphylaxis. . .
Shannon
February 23, 2019 at 5:06 pm
Physicians, grocery stores, pharmacies, schools – all advertise influenza vaccines. Some for a fixed fee, others offer incentives like gift cards or discounts. I find it hypocritical that Senator Pan scrutinizes Physicians who choose to advertise medical exemption screening appointments (no guarantee) for a cost when most physicians and large scale Medical groups refuse to evaluate for an exemption, some have blanket policies prohibiting their physicians from discussing or offering exemptions. Does he not incur a profit from each immunization he administers or medication he prescribes? Does he not charge an exam fee? What medical options are available to parents of children who are immune compromised, history of severe vaccine reaction or allergy to vaccine ingredients have? Homeschool? This is not a realistic option for single parent or working parent families.
Kayla W.
February 26, 2019 at 1:38 pm
Excellent points! Thank you!
Vickey
February 23, 2019 at 5:39 pm
“If there is an injury) after you get vaccinated, when it’s actually caused by the vaccine or not, you get compensation and your attorney gets compensation as well for bringing that up. OK. That’s a pretty good deal because normally if you want to go to court, you have to go to court and get the lawyer and you might lose and you have to prove this,” Pan said….REALLY? A “good deal”?
Is he high, stupid or just completely corrupt?
Since WHEN is a vaccine injury, severe enough to be compensated, a good deal? Does he NOT KNOW that most petitions to vaccine court are rejected? Does he NOT KNOW that the petitions that do get accepted are litigated FOR YEARS, sometimes A DECADE OR MORE? Who is footing the medical bills for that child’s injury during that time? Certainly not Pan, who recieves about $100,000 yearly in big pharma donations. Can you say conflict of interest? He’s not corrupt at all *sarcasm*.
This man lies and his cult-like followers can’t see it. It’s insane.
“Aborted fetuses used in vaccines is a myth” – LIE
“the most dangerous ingredient in vaccines is water” – LIE – the following contaminents are known to be in each injection: formaldehyde(carcinogen), aluminum(neurotoxin), mercury(neurotoxin in flu shot), polysorbates 20 and 80(breaks down blood brain barrier which allows the above neurotoxins and carcinogens to enter), and so many more…
“No-one is VACCINATING their children without their consent”- LIE – Pan wrote a bill that will do just that. It will allow doctors to enter schools and vaccinate children without parental knowledge or consent Gardasil anyone? I know many pro-vax who are against it. How about repetitive flu shots? Even though your child had theirs, they’ll give it again. And if they feel like it, again. You can never get too much mercury! *sarcasm*
So many more “Pan Lies” that I’d be here all day. I think you get the idea
Laura Stack
February 23, 2019 at 11:21 pm
Herd immunity is a myth. It only works if you have had the real disease. I want proof that you have seen these ads. How many vaccines did he get? He got 325,000 from Pharma, Monsanto and other dirty corp. He is benefiting from all this. If vaccines work why are you afraid? The measles is not the plague. No one has died from the measles in the last 15 years but over 300 have died from the shot. The death rate from measles was .001 in 1962. MMR came out in 1963. Why won’t you list the autism rate from last yr? Autism rates have gone up since SB277. It’s now 1 in 32. You can’t inject heavy metals and other toxic ingredients into a healthy child and expect health. A doc can kill a patient and still get off. This is coercion and against the Nuremberg code. why are there signs in cancer wards and NICUs asking recently vaccinated not to enter. The MMR is a live virus and it sheds. They are the the real danger. They set up the NVIC because they couldn’t sue. Why do we give a Hep B shot to even a preemie when it was meant for IV drug Users and prostitutes? It was tested for 5 days, If something bad happens it doesn’t count. The reason they don’t go to court later is because they are broke!
Concerned
February 24, 2019 at 2:56 am
This man is making us like slaves to the pharmas we just lab rats thats all.Humans FORCED to be injected an there babys by government laws .O how i prat some one who is smarter an more wealthy gets Pan out of any medical an government.
Dvorah Chanah
February 24, 2019 at 5:03 am
Richard Pan, clearly vaccine damaged.
Moseybear
February 24, 2019 at 8:10 am
For the record, This Youtube channel with actual video clips from the 2015 California SB 277 hearing (judiciary & legislative) which contradicts what Dr. Pan says in the quotes above. Worth visiting (short clips). Moreover, add to this the oppression witnessed by Orange County physician Dr. Sears when he sadly believed Pan’s testimony. These California legislators are pathological liars IMO. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xOYh0gbs4w&t=25s
Rodney Johnson
February 24, 2019 at 8:26 am
When censorship begins, science ends.
When force begins, America ends.
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:17 am
Exactly!
The Constitution entrusts government with limited powers. The power to compel medical treatment is not one of them.
‘When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies.’
— Dr. Ron Paul, MD
Walter
February 24, 2019 at 1:23 pm
Pan is a moron with a medical license. He just proves how easy it is to becomes a doctor. He just follows what his paid handlers tell him to do. He’s a vaccine salesman, not a doctor.
HOW MUCH IS YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH AND EVEN LIFE WORTH TO BIG PHARMA AND BRIBED POLITICIANS?
Drug companies donated millions to California lawmakers before vaccine mandate the industry wrote was enacted.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24913978.html
joe
February 25, 2019 at 6:50 am
Having a disabled child is “a pretty good deal” according to this guy? Really?
K
February 25, 2019 at 1:59 pm
What a liar Dr Pan is. There is no liability for Pharma companies ifvtgere are adverse effects. You do have to prove vaccine injury in a “vaccine court”, which is not due process, like civil & criminal court. He lies, lies,lies!!!
Missy
February 25, 2019 at 4:26 pm
The nerve of this guy. Those poor families with children who’ve been hurt or died because of this guy and people like him.
Hannah
February 26, 2019 at 7:24 am
A medical exemption costs $125 in California and requires thorough documentation into child’s health, previously documented reactions to vaccines and in-depth family health history justifying why child is at risk of experiencing adverse reactions to vaccines.
Pediatricians are compensated for vaccinating children and it is a major source of income in most pediatric practices. Many of us weren’t aware that “incentive” programs are offered by many health insurance companies for physicians to vaccinate patients. For example, Blue Cross / Blue Shield pays a $400/year incentive/per child vaccinated according to CDC schedule, with the caveat that a minimum of 63% of the clinic’s pediatric patients must be up to date. See page 16 of the file: http://www.whale.to/c/2016-BCN-BCBSM-Incentive-Program-Booklet.pdf
So, my question is, isn’t there a far greater conflict of interest for the pediatrician being paid an incentive to vaccinate patients? Are physicians who provide medical exemptions really financially and professionally benefiting when the fee is so nominal and they are upholding the Hippocratic oath they swore to – to first do no harm?
Kayla W.
February 26, 2019 at 1:33 pm
Some physicians charge more than $125 to evaluate a child for a medical exemption (perhaps this is the fee for a normal office visit, at which a parent can request a medical exemption). The lowest fee I’ve heard specifically for a medical exemption evaluation is $250.
I know of one doctor who charges about twice that; but this is for an exceptionally thorough, detailed, and skilled evaluation, including examination of genetic testing. This doctor’s fee is not out of line with the per-hour fees charged by specialists who treat children with complex and chronic medical issues; and this doctor is, in fact, a specialist in vaccine injury and risk factors. We need more specialists like him, because typical pediatricians and family practice doctors know so little about vaccine injury that they don’t even recognize it when they see it.
Kayla Wildman
February 26, 2019 at 1:07 pm
“At GV Wire, we strive to objectively explore, explain, and expose the complex policy issues that impact our lives in the Central Valley and beyond.”
Good mission statement. Bad performance, in this article, if you actually meant to fulfill your mission statement on this topic. Aside from briefly quoting a study or two, all you did was give Richard Pan a platform to say anything he wanted, with no fact-checking by you, no statements or responses from people with opposing viewpoints, no evidence of actual investigation…
“Explore, explain, expose” — How about you try that next time?
Amanda
February 26, 2019 at 4:40 pm
It’s unbelievable the arrogance and lust for power this man has. Where there is risk, there must be choice.
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:18 am
PAN IS OUT OF CONTROL AND NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE.
The Constitution entrusts government with limited powers. The power to compel medical treatment is not one of them.
‘When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies.’
— Dr. Ron Paul, MD
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:21 am
This is what happens when you give “medical experts” unchecked power….
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/watchdog/2019/02/27/wanaque-center-for-nursing-and-rehabilitation-failures-contributed-adenovirus-deaths/2952837002/
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:21 am
MEDICAL ERRORS ARE THE 3RD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER HEART DISEASE AND CANCER.
Considering that iatrogenic causes (doctor errors, toxic pharmaceuticals used as prescribed, and dirty hospitals) are the 3rd leading cause of death in America, shouldn’t somebody be enacting laws that protect Americans from doctors and the pharmaceutical industry?
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:22 am
Government Research Confirms Measles Outbreaks Are Transmitted By The Vaccinated
The level of hysteria surrounding measles is rising fast, although there have only been 159 cases in North America this season. People are freaking out and blaming the unvaccinated for this ‘outbreak.’ Vaccine advocates are demanding that anti-vaccine voices are scrubbed from public view. Facebook is working to ban all informed vaccine content from the site. Lawmakers are proposing a flurry of legislation aimed at severely punishing families that prefer not to vaccinate, even looking to remove vaccine exemptions at the federal level.
https://www.naturalblaze.com/2019/02/government-research-confirms-measles-outbreaks-are-transmitted-by-the-vaccinated.html
Walter
March 1, 2019 at 9:23 am
The Government Wants Mandatory Vaccines For Your Children
—What You Need To Know
You know you’re living under a tyrannical government when forced inoculations are mandated as a law!
https://www.naturalblaze.com/2019/02/the-government-wants-mandatory-vaccines-for-your-children-what-you-need-to-know.html
Terri Schuldt
September 7, 2019 at 6:21 am
There is a lot more to this story. Only 1% of vaccine injury is even reported so there’s that….think of the numbers involved. The vaccine court is a shame. How does a parent or lawyer prove that a disability is caused by a vaccine? There was an omnibus case of over 4,000 families that was dismissed. The government will never admit to the harm that has been done to the thousands upon thousands of children. They can’t afford to. Despite all the court dismissals 4 billion has already been paid out and these were the easy cases like death within a 48 hr period. The media is ghosting us parents. How do these people sleep at night?