In 2015, in spite of widespread public opposition, California became the first state in the U.S. to remove a philosophical and religious exemption for childhood vaccines as a requirement for school attendance. The bill was authored by Dr. Richard Pan, with strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

California is now one of only 3 states in the U.S. to not allow parents the choice to opt out of vaccines for their children (Mississippi and West Virginia are the other two, and apparently never had parent exemptions.) The only way to get a vaccine exemption in these three states today is to have a doctor write a vaccine exemption based on medical reasons.

However, Dr. Richard Pan is not satisfied with just removing parental choice in matters of childhood vaccines. In public comments and in a commentary published in the Journal Pediatrics, Pan has made it clear that he wants to try to reduce or eliminate altogether the choice of family doctors in writing vaccine medical exemptions as well.

The California Medical Board is currently being sued for intimidating doctors who write vaccine medical exemptions.