Ravinder Walia, registration number 2046597, has received a four-month suspension from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for sharing “misinformation” with a patient about the disproved link between vaccines and autism.
In a remote hearing on January 20-23, the committee heard that she said words to a patient – known as patient A – to the effect of “doctors have proven that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the reason that people have autism”.
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Walia was reported to have made comments such as that the patient “needed to detox her son from vaccination and give him vitamins”, the committee heard.
She also told the patient that her son would “grow out of” autism and that the condition “isn’t lifelong”, hearing documents said.
The committee found all the allegations proved, except that she said patient A “should avoid any future vaccinations for her son”.
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The regulator accepted that Walia’s misconduct “appears to have been a one-off incident” and that while the patient “experienced distress at the time”, there was no evidence of any “lasting or serious harm”.
But it stressed that she had “abused her professional position as a trusted healthcare professional” and that her actions “could have risked serious harm to patient A and to the wider public”.
“Vaccinations are the reason”
While working as a pharmacist at Village Pharmacy in Windsor in May 2021, Walia allegedly began speaking with patient A and her son, who is autistic, about the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism when they came to collect a prescription.
Patient A reported that the registrant had made comments such as “oh it’s fine, he’ll grow out of it, my daughter did” and that her “daughter had it when she was younger and as she’s grown older, she has grown out of it and doesn’t have it anymore”.
“It isn’t lifelong, you can take vitamins, and vaccinations are the reason that a lot of children have autism,” she allegedly said.
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Walia’s witness statement argued that “there was no ongoing discussion whatsoever about autism” as set out by patient A, but the committee found that the evidence before it “suggested that this was not the case”.
According to the hearing documents, Walia also told patient A that “doctors have proved that the MMR vaccine is the reason that people have autism” and/or claimed that “one in every hundred children” who had the vaccine developed autism.
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Walia was also found to have written the names of “individuals and/or organisations” associated with anti-vaccination views “on a piece of prescription paper” that she gave to patient A.
The note included the names of Dr Wakefield and new US health secretary Robert F Kennedy, who is well-known for his controversial views about vaccines, among others.
“Empathetic manner”
The regulator accepted that Walia had “no previous regulatory concerns raised against her” and that she had “no further concerns raised” when continuing to work as a locum after the incident.
And it received “positive testimonials” about her from numerous colleagues, line managers, patients and friends who “praised her clinical skills...and her empathetic manner of communicating”.
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But the GPhC stressed that “none of the referees mentioned anything about the registrant’s views or beliefs about vaccines”, meaning it could not determine whether she had “remediated her misconduct or her attitude to vaccines and to autism”.
While Walia did not attend the hearing, she provided a reflective essay to the committee on the incident.
But in the committee’s view, it “failed...to demonstrate any genuine insight into the effect of her conduct on patient A nor did [she] express any remorse for her conduct”.
“Disregard” for science
The committee also highlighted that Walia “displayed a fundamental disregard for current scientific evidence as a result of her personal beliefs, which were based on misinformation in relation to the MMR vaccine and autism”.
And it added that she “should have known” that the information she gave to the patient was “contrary to the guidance of the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and the NHS” and was “[disseminating] misinformation about the MMR vaccination and autism”.
It found that her fitness to practise was impaired but that removal from the register “would be entirely disproportionate” as her conduct was “not fundamentally incompatible with being a registered professional”.
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The GPhC concluded that a “period of four months’ suspension, together with a review before the end of that period, would be the appropriate and proportionate outcome in this case”.
It found that this suspension would “provide sufficient time for the registrant to reflect...and to provide assurance to a reviewing committee that she has understood the seriousness of the committee’s findings”.
Read the determination in full here.
