In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. And among those diseases could be COVID-19.
Dr. Paul Thomas, a prominent anti-vaccine pediatrician in Oregon, had his license suspended Dec. 3 on an emergency basis after the state's medical board found evidence he had violated standard medical practices related to vaccines.
The Oregon Medical Board took the unusual step after reviewing evidence that alleged Thomas guided his patients away from getting the standard course of childhood vaccinations—and that patients suffered vaccine-preventable diseases possibly as a result.
"The Board has determined from the evidence available at this time that Licensee's continued practice of medicine would pose an immediate danger to the public and to his patients," the board's order of emergency suspension states. 'Therefore, it is necessary to immediately suspend his license to practice medicine. To do otherwise would subject Licensee's patients to the serious risk of harm while this case remains under investigation."
Nearly two years ago, Thomas, who runs a large clinic in Beaverton, was the subject of a WW cover story ("Alt-Vaxx," March 20, 2019). The initial complaint listed by the medical board matches the details recounted in the WW story: A mother requested vaccines that Thomas did not have on hand, and he tried to dissuade her from getting her child vaccinated.
Dr. Thomas "asked her how awful she would feel if Patient A [her child] got autism and she could have prevented it," the order states.
But the medical board also reviewed troubling new allegations that Thomas appeared to push parents not to accept vaccines, including the rotavirus vaccine, and that several of his unvaccinated patients were hospitalized after not getting the vaccine.
That included 10-month-old twins who "were suffering from severe dehydration and serum electrolyte abnormalities and required five days of hospitalization (April 25-30, 2019)," according to the medical board order.
