A new bill in California targets physicians with the loss of their licenses if they disseminate information that contradicts “scientific consensus” about the coronavirus and COVID vaccines.
The bill, AB 2098, designates the spread of so-called “misinformation and disinformation” by a physician or surgeon to be “unprofessional conduct” and outlines disciplinary actions to be taken by the state’s medical board.
Among the list of what constitutes “disinformation,” the bill states that physicians cannot give information that causes a person to distrust vaccine safety/efficacy, and statistics about COVID-19 related deaths.
AB 2098, introduced by Assembly Member Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley), states:
The bill further declares that “some of the most dangerous propagators of inaccurate information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines are licensed health care professionals.”
A state that wants to determine what is considered factually accurate information and seeks to snuff out dissenting medical experts should be highly alarming. Many have pointed out that this kind of overreach is prominent within authoritarian regimes, like that of Communist China and the former Soviet Union.
“The language of the bill itself is intentionally vague about what constitutes ‘misinformation,’ which makes it even more damaging,” Stanford Medical School Professor Jay Bhattacharya recently wrote. “Doctors, fearing loss of their livelihoods, will need to hew closely to the government line on Covid science and policy, even if that line does not track the scientific evidence. After all, until recently, top government science bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci claimed that the idea that Covid came from a Wuhan laboratory was a conspiracy theory, rather than a valid hypothesis that should be open to discussion. The government’s track record on discerning Covid truths is poor.”
“What is abundantly clear is that this bill represents a chilling interference with the practice of medicine,” he insisted. “The bill itself is full of misinformation and a demonstration of what a disaster it would be to have the legislature dictate the practice of medicine.”
“We are not the Soviet Union, of course, nor are we ruled by Chinese Communists. California lawmakers thankfully do not have the power currently being exercised in Shanghai,” Bhattacharya underscored. “But this bill follows the same dangerous principle that government-authorized science should permit no opposition from people with the credentials and knowledge to oppose it. The false medical consensus enforced by AB 2098 will lead doctors to censor themselves to avoid government sanction. And it will be their patients, above all, who will be harmed by their silence.”
Not allowing physicians to warn patients about, for example, adverse side effects from COVID vaccines (of which over one million have been reported to vaers), would be considered by many doctors to be a violation of their conscience, medical expertise, and oath to “do no harm.”
It is also worth noting that defining what is truth through “scientific consensus” is problematic, to say the least. From a Biblical perspective, Christians know that truth is not determined by majority belief (John 14:6, Matthew 7:13).
In fact, the apostle Paul’s description of the time prior to Jesus’ return states that this generation will be “ever learning” but “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7) This chapter further warns that “men of corrupt minds” will despise and resist the truth (2 Timothy 3:8-9).
