What makes a doctor an expert?

The Alter Rebbe has a fascinating comment about doctors when it comes to their expertise in treating someone who might need to eat on Yom Kippur.

שולחן ערוך הרב אורח חיים סימן תריח:ח-ט

סעיף ח  - אבל אם הרופא אומר שאינו צריך והחולה אינו יודע אין מאכילין אותו לפי שאינו יודע של חולה לאו כלום הוא שרובן של חולים אינן יודעין ובקיאין בחלי שלהן אבל אם החולה הוא בעצמו ג"כ רופא בקי והוא מכיר בחליו ואומר איני יודע אם צריך לאכול ביום הכיפורים מאכילין אותו לפי שאלו היה אומר צריך היו מאכילין אותו לכן גם עכשיו שאומר איני יודע מאכילין אותו מספק 

סעיף ט  - ואם הרופא אומר שאינו מכיר את חליו הרי הוא כשאר כל אדם ואין דבריו מעלין כשאומר צריך או שאומר איני יודע שיאכל על פיו וכן כשאומר אינו צריך אין דבריו מורידין כלל ואם החולה (אומר איני יודע או שהחולה) אומר איני צריך ורופא אחד אומר צריך מאכילין אותו ואין משגיחין בדברי רופא זה שאומר אינו צריך כיון שאינו מכיר את החולי 

Essentially he says that when it comes to whether a person should eat, we take into consideration the viewpoint of the patient if the patient understands the illness he has. Otherwise, we follow the viewpoint of the doctor who is an expert. 

However, if the doctor admits that he does not recognize this illness, then for this purpose he is like everyone else and his opinion carries no weight. 

This is the argument being made about doctors who are unaware of safety concerns about vaccines. If they simply follow the CDC schedule, relying on promises of safety, while ignoring genuine concerns that people have, while never having read a safety study, while sweeping under the rug stories people have told of losing their children after vaccination (whether to illness or to death, SIDS, etc), the doctor's opinion carries no weight regarding vaccination.

Parents with serious concerns seem to know more about vaccines than doctors know.

Some doctors may have seen difficult situations in hospitals. No one is denying that.

But some doctors could not diagnose measles if they saw it, because they don't know what it looks like, and they don't know how to guide people to treat it. 

No one denies that vaccines lower the incidence of measles. 

The vaccine-safety question is about "at what cost?" "Does vaccination, and lowering incidence of certain diseases overall produce healthier people or less healthy people?" "Does manipulating the immune system so much actually boost the immune system's natural strengths? Or does it destroy the immune system, creating on the one hand an independence on drugs rather than natural immunity, and on the other hand a huge autoimmune disorder crisis, the likes of which have never been known before the modern age of vaccination?"

Those who study vaccine safety have one answer.

Those who follow "the schedule" have a different answer.

So it isn't so simple.

And doctors who have only followed the schedule but have not looked into all the claims people raise of vaccine safety are not experts. Their opinion is no more valid than anyone else. Just because they see (rare) extreme cases does not mean their opinion on vaccination is any better than that of a non-M.D.