You got to hand it to Merck… they have not only managed to keep three federal scandals involving the MMR quiet, but they have turned the media away from investigating them and onto attacking parents who no longer trust the vaccine. Some outlets are even calling for parents to be jailed for refusing the shot for their child, even though there has not been a measles death in the US in a decade. Is Julie Gerberding, head of Merck Vaccines to be given the credit for this masterwork of propaganda? No wonder she just got promoted to Executive Vice President for Strategic Communications, Global Public Policy and Population Health. She has them poised for world domination, no doubt.
In 2010 Kathleen Sebelius told Reader’s Digest that, “There are groups out there that insist that vaccines are responsible for a variety of problems, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. We (the office of Secretary of Health and Human Services) have reached out to media outlets to try to get them not to give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting.” Who could have known that the media would have taken it this far. October and November we were supposed to be terrified of Ebola, then December was the mumps panic, and January was Weareallgoingtodieofmeasles month. Will we see FebruaryFluFear, MarchMeningitisMadness and Aprilpolio? Just how much disease fear mongering do they have on the schedule for us?
Despite the now hysterical media attack (punctuated by Pharmaceutical advertisements of course) on families who are not buying the CDC’s line on vaccines, the vaccine resistant remain firm. They know that the vaccine program is broken and are staying steadfast in their demand that vaccine officials be held accountable for the corruption that is finally bubbling to the top in DC.
So last week during the CDC’s full court press on the MMR, complete with media briefings making false safety claims about the vaccine, I decided to ask CDC the real questions that need to be asked. After an exchange with Helen Rowland of CDC’s media office, I put the following questions to her:
Subject: Re: Measles Cases for 2012 and 2013
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 10:56:42 -0500
From: Ginger Taylor < GTaylor@HealthChoice.org>
To: Rowland, Helen (Amy) (CDC/OD/OADC) < isc4@cdc.gov>
“There are currently three major vaccine scandals unfolding at the federal level.
1. The #CDCwhistleblower scandal currently being investigated by the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science committee. The tent pole MMR research, lead by Frank DeStafano, head of CDC’s vaccine safety office, reportedly actually found two MMR autism links that they hid from the public. Study co-author William Thompson has turned whistleblower and turned over a large number of documents on the alleged fraud to Congress and will be testifying in the near future. This research is still being used to assert that there is no association between vaccines and autism.
2. CDC vaccine/autism researcher Poul Thorsen has been indicted by the DOJ on 21 counts of fraud and money laundering charges, and is on the OIGs most wanted list, currently awaiting extradition from Denmark to stand trial in the US. CDC has not even reviewed his research to see if it is sound. This research is still being used to assert that there is no association between vaccines and autism.
3. Merck is currently being sued in federal court by its own scientists for submitting false efficacy data on the mumps component of the vaccine to the FDA in order to gain re-approval for the MMR in 2000. In Sept Merck exhausted its appeals to have the case thrown out and it is moving into discovery.
Questions:
Why is the discussion of these scandals not a part CDCs discussion on parenting opting out of the MMR?
How can Dr. Anne Schuchat claim that the MMR is safe and effective (as she did on the call yesterday) when these fraud investigations are ongoing?
And the most important question…
In light of these three scandals, and in light of the fact that there has not been a measles death in this country since 2003, why should educated, informed parents who are following these events trust the safety and efficacy claims made by CDC, and follow the CDC recommended vaccine schedule?”
I have not yet received a response, and at this point, I don’t expect to.
CDC continues to expose itself as a bad faith player in pretending that they are merely a public health agency offering unbiased health information.
I wonder if press conferences by Bernie Madoff on the Madoff Scandal would be given as much credibility by the media as the CDC’s press conferences on the vaccine program, for which their own researchers are currently being investigated and indicted.
I wonder how long this ruse will hold out. Eventually people are going to stop being alarmed by the ubiquitous fear campaigns surrounding Disneymeasles, Hockymumps and Fearbola, and start realizing that there are some serious shenanigans at play.