Former UCLA Medical Center Pediatrician: Let Parents Choose on Measles Vaccine

Jay Gordon, MD FAAP. Photo from DrJayGordon.com

by Brian Shilhavy
Health Impact News

The recent measles and measles vaccine controversy has produced some interesting results that we have not seen for a very long time: mainstream media is interviewing doctors who do not worship the holy grail of vaccines.

Typically, in the past, only parents were allowed to give opposing views on vaccines in the mainstream media, often pitted against doctors and other “authority figures” to make them look uneducated, and misinformed.

But we are beginning to see some cracks in the recent rash of measles stories. Granted, it is a tiny fraction of the news out there, and any doctor who dares to say anything negative or contrary about vaccines faces tremendous opposition.

We have seen that this week with Dr. Jack Wolfson in Phoenix Arizona, who was interviewed by NBC Phoenix. He received thousands of angry comments as a result of that interview, and contacted Health Impact News this week to publish a response to his critics (See: Arizona Cardiologist Responds to Critics Regarding Measles and Vaccines.)

Dr. Jay Gordon’s Resume

Dr. Jay Gordon is a pediatrician in Southern California. He has a quite impressive resume:

In the middle of his residency training, pediatrician Jay Gordon took an unusual step. Deciding that he needed greater knowledge about nutrition, vitamins, and alternative medicine in order to practice medicine the way he wanted to, Dr. Gordon took a Senior Fellowship in Pediatric Nutrition at Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City. After his residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Dr. Gordon joined the teaching attending faculty at UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Intensely interested in infant nutrition and breastfeeding, Dr. Gordon is the first male physician to sit for and pass the International Board of Lactation Certification Exam and has served on the Professional Advisory Board of La Leche League for twenty-four years.

In addition to treating patients, he participates in the training of medical students and residents, lectures all over the world, writes books, and writes a monthly column for “Fit Pregnancy” magazine. He has contributed to “New York Parent,” “Parenting” magazine and has been quoted in the L.A. Times, New York Times, and The London Times.

Dr. Gordon’s first book, the well-received Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow, offers a life-changing plan for families who want to make dramatic changes in health and fitness through nutrition. Brighter Baby, examines the positive effect that attachment parenting, combined with infant massage, has on children’s health and intelligence. Other releases include: Good Night! The Parents’ Guide to the Family Bed and Hug Your Baby, a gentle guide through the first year, which were released summer, 2002. He also published, Listening To Your Baby: A New Approach to Parenting Your Newborn, which still gets great reviews from parents. His most recent book is The ADD and ADHD Cure, the Natural Way to Treat Hyperactivity and Refocus Your Child.

When the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Television and the Media named Dr. Gordon “the most influential doctor in America,” they were referring, tongue-in-cheek, to Dr. Gordon’s role, as the medical script consultant, in eliminating lollipops from the office of “Doctor Weston,” lead character on the sitcom “Empty Nest.” (Source.)

Dr. Jay Gordon: “No One Knows Your Child Better Than You Do”

Dr. Gordon is also a strong advocate for parental rights. When you visit the home page of his website, you are greeted with this quote at the top:

“No one knows your child better than you do”

Dr. Gordon is not anti-vaccine, but he is pro-parental choice. Rare among doctors today, he believes parents are in the best position to make vaccine choices for their children:

“First, vaccines are a really personal issue and one of my biggest problems is that 99% of pediatricians don’t feel that parents should even participate in the decision about how or when, let alone if a baby should get all, some or none of the shots at any given office visit. The whole process is inherently flawed because we give immunizations pretending to know a lot more about the immune system than we really know.

We also have combined six different vaccines with more than 20 separate antigens to be given at the two-, four-, and six-month check ups. The science behind these combinations is lacking and the challenge ‘You can’t prove it’s dangerous to give these shots at the same time,’ completely reverses the real obligation of the manufacturers and vaccine researchers to prove that the vaccines and combinations are safe.” (Story here.)

Dr. Jay Gordon: I don’t Think Measles Poses Any Risk to a Healthy Child

CBS News interviewed Dr. Gordon this week and asked him about the recent measles outbreaks in California. He admitted that more than half his patients have either refused the measles vaccine (only available in a three-vaccine combo as MMR, measles, mumps, rubella), or delayed getting it. He stated that he did not believe that measles posed any risk for healthy children.

The interviewer then stated:

If somebody with measles walked into Dr. Gordon’s office, 90 percent of the unvaccinated people who come in contact with them would get measles. I asked Dr. Gordon to explain how that type of contagion isn’t a risk.

Dr. Gordon replied:

“You just said it, they’d get measles,” Dr. Gordon replied. “Not meningitis, not the plague, not Ebola, they’d get measles. Measles is almost always a benign childhood illness.”

Next, the interviewer asked a question based on an assumption that almost everyone in the mainstream media accepts as fact:

I asked him if it’s still a personal choice to help bring back a disease that we had largely eradicated from the population.

To which Dr. Gordon replied:

“Individual parents making that decision are not the ones bringing back measles,” answered Dr. Gordon. “Measles isn’t coming back. We have 70 cases of measles right now and we have 30 million Californians.”

We don’t know if Dr. Gordon had more to say on this myth that unvaccinated children are causing a public epidemic, such as the fact that many who are vaccinated with the measles MMR vaccine are also coming down with the diseases they were vaccinated against, such as measles and mumps. These diseases, if contracted as a child, almost always give lifetime immunity. Not so with the vaccine, and most adults are at risk today because the antibodies developed by the vaccine are no longer effective.

While we may not agree with all of Dr. Gordon’s views on vaccines, we agree with one major tenet that he apparently practices by: Parents are in the best position to make these decisions. Too many in the media are now calling for medical tyranny and forced vaccinations.

But the media will do well to tone down this kind of rhetoric, and allow the vaccine debate to occur under our Constitutional rights to freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. The public is much more educated on this issue than some would like to admit, and there are plenty of doctors who have done their homework and looked at the actual science. They will not be silenced.

See Also:

Published on January 29, 2015

9 Comments

Tom Ehrhardt February 1, 2015 at 7:23 am - Reply

Vaccine shedding is real. This child in Baltimore got measles through taking the vaccine http://www.wbaltv.com/news/possible-measles-case-in-a-12monthold-from-baltimore/30902712

Shaka BUku February 1, 2015 at 12:16 am - Reply

“He stated that he did not believe that measles posed any risk for healthy children.” 

Then the vaccine shouldn’t either.  Healthy kids have immune systems that will protect them from most diseases.  If they are healthy, then what’s the problem with getting a little extra protection from a shot?  It’s like taking a supplement when your diet is already top notch.

Get the shot and help protect others in the community who have weaker immune systems or are too young to get it.

Admin February 1, 2015 at 7:06 am - Reply

“Then the vaccine shouldn’t either.”

This is a false and dangerous assumption, and shows the general ignorance that many have regarding vaccines. The vaccine is not simply a pure measles virus. For one thing, it is a combination of three viruses and three vaccines, as there is no “measles vaccine” even available. You are forced to also be vaccinated for mumps and rubella. Secondly, the vaccine contains much more than just the viruses. It contains adjuvants, and many of these are very toxic, such as aluminum. Everybody considering purchasing a vaccine or giving one to a tiny child should be required to read the package insert for that vaccine, listing the ingredients and possible side effects. 

Lastly, like many who are pro-vaccine, you assume that the vaccine is effective for that which it is marketed for. However, that is simply a belief, not a scientific fact. To scientifically prove that vaccines can prevent a disease, there has to be a true scientific study conducted comparing the health of those who are vaccinated with those who are not, and the CDC has admitted that such a study has never been conducted. The fact that so many are getting sick with measles who are fully vaccinated against it proves that this is not a scientific fact, but a belief. We should not force our beliefs upon others.

Stacey February 2, 2015 at 7:16 am - Reply

A supplement? Really? My vitamins don’t contain formaldehyde, mercury, or other harmful pathogens… Not to mention, vaccines do not guarantee immunity, as stated in the article. If you trust your vaccines to protect you then stop worrying about those who choose not to vaccinate.

Johnny Blakeman March 22, 2015 at 4:56 am - Reply

Because, vaccine given aren’t just dead Measles viruses. It contains harmful chemicals that can cause harm to your kids. Why don’t you do some research on how vaccines are made before you spew out some nonsense. If you truly cared about your kids, you wouldn’t vaccinate them. But I’m gonna guarantee you’re either too lazy or too dumb to look into how vaccines are made.

Doug January 31, 2015 at 1:29 pm - Reply

Dr. Gordon is one of the most intelligent and kind persons I have ever known in my life. Thank God he was also the pediatrician we chose in 1982…and 1985.  Mind you, he is not against vaccines, but he does what is ethically and morally right when considering that parents, not the CDC, know what is best for their children.   There are consequences to ever action we take in life and parents know this.  Please study both sides of this important issue, as though your child’s life is dependent upon you making the right choice-because it is.

JANINE DAVIS January 30, 2015 at 2:16 pm - Reply

At the moment there is a lot in the media about a pandemic of measles. I live in the UK and my Doctor insisted that my child at 3years have the MMR jab, I declined, he threatened me with everything, however, I stayed with the decision not to vaccinate my child. As a child I had everything, measles,German measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever, my Mom kept me off School and looked after me making sure I was hydrated and rested and after a few days that was it, back to normal. Most of the time I was taken to a neighbors house so I could catch whatever their children had so it was done and dusted. This article is about choice as a parent, my choice was to decline the MMR I looked at the labels of the vaccines and felt that putting that kind of poison into my son’s body wasn’t healthy. If you read the article of the children who have contracted measles they have already had the MMR so how come they have measles?

LeAnn Addleman January 30, 2015 at 9:24 am - Reply

I heard this morning that we will sooner or later have “no more jabs”, meaning they will find a delivery system that will not require a visit to the doctor or needles.  They’ll just spray it in the air and everyone will have their “immunizations” probably without knowing it.  Won’t that be wonderful?  NOT!!!

Allison January 29, 2015 at 4:23 pm - Reply

Lovely article! I saw him on the news and was so pleased with his confident remarks about the measles. We need more doctors like Dr. Gordon. I hope that this movement will continue to sweep across our nation. One part of this article mentions that adults vaccines have worn off. These angry pro vax parents should chew on their own immunities for a bit.