Last updated on October 13th, 2019 at 05:08 pm
For those living under a rock ( about which, I’d have to ask “why?”), the USA had its so-called mid-term elections, which are state and Federal elections that happen at the halfway point of the US President’s term. Unfortunately, instead of the blue wave, we got more of a blue ripple, where the Democrats barely won the House, with positive and negative results for Team Blue across the country. In California, there was one state Senate election that was interesting to many of us, the re-election of Richard Pan who is a staunch supporter of vaccines.
Dr. Pan is not only a pediatrician but also is a Democrat who represents the 6th Senate District, located in Sacramento, CA. For those you who don’t follow California politics, Dr. Pan was the prime sponsor of SB277, which eliminated the abused personal belief exemptions for vaccines. The law essentially mandated vaccines for children entering school, and it has greatly increased vaccine uptake for school-aged children in California.
SB277 still allowed for medical exemptions, which are exemptions that are medically necessary such as allergies or immune disorders. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine crowd has abused this “loophole” by buying, in many cases, medical exemptions from unscrupulous individuals.
Dr. (or is it Senator) Richard Pan has been targeted by the anti-vaccine crowd many times for his support of mandatory vaccination. They have even resorted to vile and disgusting racist attacks against him. It has even reached a level of violent hate speech that seems to be common in US politics these days.
But Richard Pan has stood his ground on vaccine mandates, and he continues to be a strong proponent of children’s health issues. And that includes vaccines.
https://twitter.com/DrPanMD/status/1059606376513556481
Just prior to the election, Robert F Kennedy Jr, a science-denying and anti-vaccine nutjob Democrat In Name Only, decided to attack Richard Pan in a very expensive advertisement which ran in the Sacramento area. RFK Jr has gone off the deep end lately, not only running this ad against a fellow liberal Democrat but also attacking the integrity and ethics of one of the most respected physicians in medical research. Kennedy subscribes to pseudoscience and false information about vaccines to further his agenda. And let’s not forget, he genuflected to Donald Trump in a lame attempt to create a vaccine safety commission.
Yeah, I think RFK Jr is a black mark on the Kennedy name.
Well, none of this nonsense mattered in the election. Richard Pan won his California State Senate seat 68-32% over an anti-vaccine independent, Eric Frame. Admittedly, Senate District 6 is overwhelmingly Democratic – Hillary Clinton won the district by about the same amount over Donald Trump in 2016.
Richard Pan wasn’t the only pro-vaccine candidate that mattered, but as a California citizen who thinks that protecting young children from vaccine-preventable diseases is a critical healthcare issue, I felt that the re-election of Dr. Pan was a great thing for the state.
Congratulations to Richard Pan. I hope he goes far in California politics (if we’re lucky, there may be a US Senate position open in California in 2020, hint hint).
And to Robert F Kennedy Jr. – you’re a science denier and traitor to progressive politics. You’re in bed with Republicans which include in their membership avowed science deniers and vaccine haters, Donald Trump and Rand Paul. Kindly remove your cranium from your colon. Please.
Of course, the anti-vaxxers are whining about Richard Pan and other pro-vaccine Democrats winning yesterday. I’m laughing. Although I wish the rest of Team Blue had done a bit better.
