SEARCH:
Sign in | Join | Help
search Mercola.com
 
FREE Subscription 
The World’s Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter
POSTED BY:

Dr. Mercola
June 25 2009

View in Podcast

19,646 views


ARTICLE TOOLS:
TRANSLATE THIS PAGE:
Arabic Translation Chinese Translation Dutch Translation French Translation German Translation
Korean Translation Japanese Translation Portugese Translation Russian Translation Spanish Translation

Vaccine Doctor Given at Least $30 Million Dollars to Push Vaccines

vaccines, vaccinations, moneyDr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia earned at least $29 million as part of a $182-million sale by the hospital of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine. The amount of income distributed to Offit could be as high as $46 million. Offit has refused to say how much he made from the vaccine.

The high price placed on the patents raises concerns over Offit’s use of his former position on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to help create the market for rotavirus vaccine -- effectively, to vote himself rich.

Offit’s claim to a share of the profits from Rotateq revenues is based on his role as a listed inventor on the cluster of patents that protect Merck’s vaccine. Paul Offit had a great personal interest in Rotateq’s commercial success, and more than any other individual in the world he found himself in a position to directly influence that success.

Unlike most other patented products, the market for mandated childhood vaccines is created by the recommendation of an appointed body, ACIP. From 1998 to 2003, Offit served as a member of ACIP.


Sources:

Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

If you want to read a fascinating expose of this doctor read the recent Philadelphia Magazine expose on him.

Dr. Paul Offit, or as he is also known Paul “For Profit” Offit, is a fairly well-known and frequent commentator in favor of vaccinations who dismisses many vaccine risks and promotes vaccine mandates. But he is not just a doctor who believes that vaccinations save lives. Far from it.

Dr. Offit is also a listed inventor on a cluster of patents that protect Merck’s Rotateq vaccine and share the title “Rotavirus Reassortant Vaccine.” They include four granted U.S. patents -- US5626851, US5750109, US6113910 and US6290968 -- and two granted European patents -- EP323708 and EP493575.

He is also the recipient of a $350,000 grant from Merck for the vaccine’s development, a consultant to Merck Pharmaceuticals and, the icing on the cake, previously served as a member of The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

ACIP is a 15-member panel of immunization experts, selected by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They provide advice and guidelines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine-preventable diseases.

As a member of the ACIP from 1998 to 2003, Dr. Offit was involved in CDC recommendations about giving rotavirus vaccine to babies. He voted “yes” three times out of four on issues pertaining to the ACIP’s rotavirus use recommendation (including, voting for his own vaccine to be included in the immunization schedule).

To clarify, Dr. Offit voted for the FIRST Rotashield vaccine manufactured by Wyeth (monkey-human hybrid virus) approved by ACIP in 1998 to be given to all babies. He abstained from the vote in 1999 to recommend that Rotashield be removed from the market. He did not vote for the Merck Rotateq vaccine (cow-human hybrid virus) to be recommended for use in all babies -- he was prevented under ACIP/government rules from voting to recommend a product he had a personal financial stake in.

Now, as a result of Merck’s rotavirus vaccine being added to the CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule, the value of Dr. Offit’s stake in the vaccine has skyrocketed.
Why Isn’t This ILLEGAL?????
Though he has declined to say exactly how much he has gained personally, Age of Autism reports that Dr. Offit earned at least $29 million, and perhaps as much as $55 million, as part of a $182-million sale by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine.

Of course, all of this begs the question, can someone’s vote on an “independent” safety board be trusted when there is $30 million at stake? Would Dr. Offit, or anyone for that matter, truly be an unbiased voice of safety? Or would they be swayed by this hidden motivation?

It’s a rhetorical question but I think the answer speaks for itself. Especially when you consider that Dr. Offit is also the doctor who made the infamous and incomprehensible statement, “an infant can safely receive up to 10,000 vaccines at once.”
Always Look for Hidden Motivations
It is understandable that most people would like to believe the words of respected leaders in the health field. Unfortunately, doing so is often very naïve.

It’s not enough to look at the obvious credentials of your spokespeople, whether they’re pro- or anti- an issue or hold a prestigious degree. Today, you also have to consider the hidden motivations behind their recommendations. Where is their loyalty? Who pays for their lifestyle? Where is their money coming from?

It’s very sad to say, but some of the most trusted voices in defense of vaccine safety are nothing more than paid shills for the industry. As CBS News reported last year, these include:
  • The American Academy of Pediatrics, to whom the vaccine industry gives millions for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even to help build their headquarters.
  • Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children and admits they receive money from the vaccine industry -- but won’t say how much.
  • Dr. Paul Offit, who in addition to the monies described above holds in a $1.5-million research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck.
Why You Should Stay Educated About Vaccine Issues
Clearly the above listed “trusted” health care groups cannot really be trusted for an unbiased opinion. Not while they are busy accepting untold amounts of money from the vaccine makers.

So, then, what other choice do you have but to seek out the truth for yourself?

The good news is that there are still trustworthy sources of information out there, and one of the best is The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the American vaccine safety watchdog. Exploring the information on this site, as well as on the many pages of Mercola.com, will help you to get educated.

The site was founded by vaccine-educated parents and is run by longtime vaccine safety and informed consent advocate Barbara Loe Fisher. To the best of my knowledge Dr. Offit has repeatedly refused to debate her in public. Likely he knows she would win that debate because he doesn’t have half a leg to stand on.

More parents are clearly opposed to the "mandatory" vaccine laws and understand that vaccinations are not the heavily promoted miracle cure-all that will keep their children from getting sick. Instead, they are seeing the truth: that vaccines carry the risk of serious side effects such as crippling neurological damage like autism and even death.

Let me be clear that I’m not anti-vaccine, but rather pro-vaccine safety. I believe it is extremely important to have the right to choose -- to be allowed to make informed consent decisions about what you want to inject into your child, and yourself, and when.

The current U.S. immunization schedule calls for children to get 48 doses of 14 vaccines by the time they’re just 6 years old. By age 18, federal public health officials say they should have gotten a total of 69 doses of 16 vaccines from day of birth to age 18.

Public health officials have NEVER proven that it is indeed safe to inject this number and volume of vaccines into infants, children, pre-adolescents and teenagers. What's more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurological and immune system disorders in American children.

But perhaps more disclosures like the article above, where we learn that a key proponent of vaccine safety is being made rich off of his recommendations, will shed some light on why the U.S. vaccine schedule just keeps growing ever larger.

So please do the health of your children a favor. Seek out a knowledgeable health care practitioner who is aware of the conflict of interest surrounding public health policy, and chooses to make educated decisions based on solid information, and your child’s health and safety, rather than on the promise of a future payoff.


Related Links:



Comment on This Article Community Comments (39)
 
 
Posted On Jun 10, 2009

OMG!  A conflict of interest between an MD and the Pharmacetical industry enabled by government agencies?!?!?!?! How could this be true? OK... removing my tongue from cheek, this of course this comes as no shock. I have to dig into my archives, but I believe that I saw this guy interviewed and he makes a very credible case for vaccination using tyipcal scare tactics. Of course he makes no mention of his financial interest. Getting rich off an invention doesn't make you wrong or unethical, but I this is a clear exampleof how broken our system is and how resistant it will be to reform as long as the regulators and the people they help make rich are in bed together.


 
Trinity Wellness
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 12/2008
Trinity Wellness  
Replied

CancerTreatment
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2009
CancerTreatment  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

We need more regulation.



Dave-O
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 1/2009
Dave-O  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

CancerTreatment:  

Be careful what you wish for... the gov doesn't need more power.  We need to forcefully stop the insanity.  Regulation?  They have regulations... money just bypasses them and the ones in power don't give a shite about people...only money and power and if you doubt that then ask how the above is possible, yet Rife and Hulda and others get jailed for actually caring.



Puppysnacks
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
Puppysnacks  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Whatever happened to genuinely good, decent human beings?  Whatever happened to being a doctor because you actually want to help people?  The same can be asked of politicians, government at large, etc.  It is a sad, sad world, when your greed for money outranks your morality to do or choose the right things!



Dave-O
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 1/2009
Dave-O  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Puppys...

Industry and schools teach profit above all else... that is profit above all else.  In reality, public corporations are owned by the same money, minus the little guys hoping for some retirement income; they do not serve anything but to increase wealth.  It is true.  Profit is the main goal, and if you compete with large corps, they use the gov to take you down or sell out.

If we had good people, the corruption would be exposed.  How about this... we supposedly vote for people to represent us, okay.  Now, tell me how it is possible that a gov with representatives of the people can pas laws without every member (rep) voting?  HOW... HOW is that acceptable?  And, how is it that we are not informed ahead of time about ANY law being voted on?  It is insanity and unless you teach your children to recognize the difference in good/bad, they have no choice.

I am raising my children in the truth, as I see it but I also have to teach them to play this game of the corporate/gov world of illusions.  They will know both and be able to  operate in both; giving them their lives in truth above the base populous of propagandists and drones.

Sad, but true.  I have a Masters and on top of that a specialization, so I know what I am talking about when I speak of schools and corps.  I learned more truths and facts outside of my studies; for within them what you  have is state sponsored crap.  

They can operate in the illusion, so long as the know the illusion and are not part of it.



Dquixote1217
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 4/2007
Dquixote1217  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Suggested reading:

"Mainstream Support of Vaccinations - Another Chapter in an Old Story"

(www.tbyil.com/vaccinations.htm)

And I also highly suggest taking a look at this youtube video where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. talks about the undeniable links between vaccines and autism and other nervous disorders:

"Robert F Kennedy explains vaccines and the autism coverup"

(www.youtube.com/watch)

Always follow the money trail.

Besides the damages that are being caused by vaccines, every year, over 100,000 people die in hospitals from the side effects of properly prescribed and administered drugs.  When you add in the home deaths from mainstream drug side effects, the number rises to around 140,000 deaths per year.   Meanwhile, one is hard pressed in any given year to attribute even a dozen deaths around the world to supplements and only a handful from all forms of alternative therapies.

Instead of lack of oversight of patented toxic and invasive therapies and our food production facilities, our officials are determined to go after therapies and supplements without even proof of harm?  We protect Vioxx, Gardasil. Avandia, Fosamax and Aspartame, yet persecute and suppress Washington cherry growers, bitter melon tea makers, and stevia?

We allow drug makers to essentially self test their products and fund studies designed to return unfavorable results on natural vitamins and minerals, and cry that we do not have enough money or personnel to properly do follow up inspections of fast tracked drugs and other approved drugs or inspections of food processing and factory farm facilities, yet spend untold manhours and funds conducting witch hunts against non-toxic and non-invasive competition to drug makers?

What is wrong with this picture?  When you figure out the answer, you will be a long way towards figuring out what is wrong with our health and health freedoms in general.



Maurya
Novice User Novice User Joined On 11/2008
Maurya  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

National Public Radio seems to love this Offit guy.  He is interviewed frequently as the "expert" on many "health" oriented radio programs.  Gee, I wonder who the largest corporate sponsors of NPR might be?  By the way, my home is in southeastern Pennsylvania, which is part of Pharmaceutical Heaven, so we here are (or should be) quite aware of their shenanigans.  But still people listen to this stuff and lap it up.  I wonder how many billions of dollars the lobbyists will be spending in Washington this summer, or would that be trillions?  Quite a good return on investment...for the Pharm industry, that is.  


 
 
 
Posted On Jun 10, 2009

And that, dear children, is the real reason you are full of little needle punctures.  I'm sure this happens often.  These scumbags get into a position of power and they are able to do just about anything despite the obvious conflict of interest.


 
ironmaiden
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 11/2006
ironmaiden  
Replied

Dave-O
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 1/2009
Dave-O  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

I don't suppose you have many ironmaidens that we could put to good use?



Mama2boys
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2008
Mama2boys  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

And parents keep bringing their children in for their vaccines like good little Mommies and Daddies.

Where has the parenting intuition gone? When children have side effects or they know of side effects why do they keep bringing their children in for more and more vaccines? For fear of not being part of the flock? For fear of hurting their doctors feelings? Why have our children become guinea pigs? Why have we stopped protecting our children?


 
 
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

As I view the information that flows each and everyday that brings about a new concern over this BIG PHARMA ruse, this is far more tragic that all the wars, all the ethnic cleansing, all of the genocides that have taken place in the history of this planet.  Why?  Because those behind these killings put on a compassionate face, and swear they are trying to help, and the populus being so sheepish, just gose along without question.  It is enough to make one weep.


 
curious7
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 3/2007
curious7  
 
 
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

As remarkable as this is, it's merely a symptom of big government run wild.  About 2 or 3 years ago, an independent agency found that the U.S. Congress had collectively made $195 million from their stock investments in D.O.D.-related companies.  And the agency concluded that this "might" show a conflict of interest on the part of Congress during a time of war.  It MIGHT pose a conflict of interest?!?!  Ya think???  $195 million made by just a few hundred people.  And we wonder why only rich lawyers occupy government positions.

So, as bad as this is Offit character is, he's merely one of many.  It's the lure of power and big money that's infested every area of the government...and should be stamped out.  Unfortunately, we won't see a change until government and ALL regulatory bodies (such as the AMA) become nonprofit entities with serious conflict of interest laws to throw those who succumb to temptation in prison...which will never happen.


 
MikeM_203
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 5/2007
MikeM_203  
Replied

dallasmsl
Novice User Novice User Joined On 5/2008
dallasmsl  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Like you, I'm a firm believer that the AMA is the largest reason for our nation's high cost of medical care. They keep a TIGHT cap on the number of doctor's that our nation has so unless many eligible candidates can move overseas to get their education like a very fortunate friend of mine, the number of doctor's remains limited. No rework of our medical system will work without the destruction of the AMA. They have no other purpose but to keep the cost of medical care up.



eaglsong
Novice User Novice User Joined On 10/2008
eaglsong  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Ah, but it WILL happen! In fact, it has already begun.

The heavenly axe is falling.

Everything not planted by God is being pulled up.

Great fortunes, cruelly and illegally made, are evaporating.

The meek and trusting  (Matthew 5) are being encouraged and protected.

Their characters are being purified through the fire.

What King Nebuchadnezzar (proud tyrant turned believer) wrote in Daniel’s book is amazing –

It took the literal fiery trial of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to prove God’s reality and power to the king.

Check it out here:   www.endureinstrength.org

Select     Kingdom Vision        scroll down to links

Select     Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego


 
 
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

When the whole of society's driving force is money, it will come as no surprise that the medical, pharmaceutical, food ,law, or any other industry, doesn't have your's, mine or anybody else's, best interest at heart.

Follow the money trail....always,before looking at the real world for your most realistic answers.No, I'm not a cynic....simply a realist!


 
david
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 8/2006
david  
Replied

Dave-O
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 1/2009
Dave-O  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

It TRULY begs the question of what money really is... money is an illusion.  You work for a bartering symbol... either a number on a piece of paper, or a digital number--and both are manipulated from an outside source.

MONEY is not MONEY it is NOTHING.  You work so you can buy shite... that is it.  They are allowed to lend $100k only having $5k on hand... so, I get to borrow and pay interest on something that doesn't exist and that is how our gov operates.

Even gold has no value if we attribute none to it.  In actuality, silver is a better metal than gold in many ways; not aesthetically, perhaps, but the properties of silver are greater than gold.  Yet, who knows this.

Nothing is real from the gov, msm, tv, etc... all illusions.  Would anyone in their right mind 'borrow' and agree to pay from someone/thing as broke as them?  H no.

Wake up foolish people... even the price per barrel to remove it from the earth only costs $5, but the ones in NY and London (i believe) SET the price for profit only.

All I can do is teach my children and hope for the best... from what I have seen, most parents have NO clue what is happening to their children in school, daycare, hospitals...   I see kids today as young as 14 being trained for homeland security and to spy on others; this gives me very little hope in this country anyway.



MikeM_203
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 5/2007
MikeM_203  
 
Posted On Jun 25, 2009

Well said, DAVID...you too, DAVE-O.

I'm always shocked at the differences between the "haves" and "have nots"...the extreme differences in money between people.  Even the differences among the rich and the super rich are astounding.

I don't have a problem with the rich getting richer (it's a natural evolutionary process that once you have money it's quite a bit easier to make more), I just hate that many of the rich are getting there by corruption and not by any form of work on their own.  

I'm certainly NOT for the liberal mentality of stealing from the rich and giving to anyone with their hand out, however I do hate to see people becoming rich and successful on the backs of the masses. Owning a company is one thing, but to essentially be stealing AND causing harm to people in the process of getting rich is probably one of the lowest forms of inhumanity...something which the U.S. is becoming a master of.


 
 
 
 
© Copyright 2009 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use this article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.