Senator Richard Pan

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Vaccine Opponents Fail to Qualify their Referendum for the Ballot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Shannan Velayas (PAN) (916) 271-2867

December 23, 2019

SACRAMENTO, CA – Dr. Richard Pan, State Senator representing the Sacramento area and author of Senate Bill 276 made the following statement in regards to the failure of those opposed to SB 276 to qualify their referendum for the ballot:

“The anti-vaccine extremists who opposed SB276 failed to even qualify their referenda against SB276 and SB714, after declaring the bill to be fascist and communist and invoking Jim Crow and the Holocaust. Despite their violent rhetoric, which incited a physical assault and blood being thrown into the Senate chamber, they failed to make their case to the people of California. Four years ago, they also failed to qualify a referendum against SB277 to abolish non-medical exemptions to school vaccination and failed several lawsuits which resulted in SB277 being constitutionally upheld by a California Appellate court. This small number of privileged extremists are endangering our children and costing taxpayers, but the people of California are standing with the science by supporting SB277 in 2015 and, again this year, SB276, to protect all Californians.”

Shortly after the legislature and the Governor approved passage of SB 276 and SB 714 in September, vaccine opponents filed a proposed statewide referendum, which is the first step to place a measure on the ballot to overturn a law. To qualify for the ballot, proponents needed to collect 623,212 valid signatures from registered voters. The California Secretary of State has indicated that effort has failed: https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/pdf/2019/december/19161jk.pdf and https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/pdf/2019/december/19160jk.pdf

Senate Bill 276, which will prevent fake medical exemptions and require oversight of the medial exemption process and Senate Bill 714 will be enacted on January 1, 2020.

A study published today in PLOS Medicine examined the effectiveness of Dr. Richard Pan’s 2015 law, Senate Bill 277, which eliminated nonmedical exemptions in the state. The study found that his bill was effective increasing vaccination coverage, especially in the most “high-risk” (low vaccine coverage) settings. The study can be found here: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002994

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Dr. Richard Pan is a parent, small business owner, former UC Davis educator and pediatrician who represents Sacramento, West Sacramento, Elk Grove and unincorporated areas of Sacramento County in the state legislature and is the Chair of the Senate Health Committee. As a legislator, Dr. Pan continues to practice medicine at WellSpace Health Oak Park Community Clinic, pursuing his passion for working with families to build healthier communities.

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OPERATION RELIEF FOR SAMOA:

Dr. Richard Pan and Samoan Community Leaders Seek Donations for those Impacted by Measles Outbreak in Samoa

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Shannan Velayas (PAN) (916) 271-2867
Jessie Uperesa (Samoan Community) (650) 291-9249

December 6, 2019

SACRAMENTO, CA – Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician, State Senator and author of Senate Bill 276 (2019) and Senate Bill 277 (2015) is working with leaders in the Samoan community to bring much needed supplies to the small country of Samoa as health officials there race to contain a measles outbreak that has resulted in over 63 deaths so far.

Overall, there have been 4,000 cases of measles in Samoa, which is 2 percent of the country’s entire population. Mainly children under four years old have been impacted.

“The measles outbreak in Samoa is part of a global resurgences of this deadly disease,” said Senator Richard Pan. “The island nation has been hit hard because it has been a target of misinformation and we are hoping the community will respond by providing much-needed supplies that officials need to stop measles from spreading and prevent further needless suffering.”

This year, Dr. Pan successfully authored SB 276 to strengthen oversight of the medical exemption process and combat the proliferation of fraudulent medical exemptions, offering greater protection to children at school and to their communities.

Officials in Samoa have closed schools, sent out mobile clinics and sought to raise awareness of much-needed vaccines. Antivaxxers have targeted Samoa and Samoan communities in the United States, spreading misinformation about vaccines. The hesitation to vaccinate on the part of a growing number of parents stems from misinformation such as the now retracted 1998 study that falsified data to purport a link between autism and the measles vaccine. The study was authored by Andrew Wakefield who was later found to be lying. Also, numerous subsequent studies worldwide involving hundreds of thousands of children have proved that vaccines are safe and do not cause autism.

In Sacramento, California you can drop off supplies off at: Cornerstone Samoan Assembly of God at 3910 Marysville Blvd. Sacramento Ca 95838

In Pittsburg, California you can drop supplies off at: Lighthouse Samoan AG Church at 1210 Stoneman Ave. Pittsburg Ca 94565.

The last day to drop off supplies is December 15, 2019.

The community is asking for these supplies:

Sanitizer wipes
Gloves
Disposable medical facemasks
Disposable sheets
Scrubs
First Aid items (band aids, gauze, etc.)
Baby items (diapers, shampoo, soap, etc.)
Vitamins
Ibuprofen and Tylenol (children and adult)
Tents & canopies
Non perishable food items and water.
Clothes
Towels

 

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