Voices for Hiding Vaccine Risks: Follow the $

NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter August 6, 2008


Voices for Hiding Vaccine Risks: Follow the $
by Barbara Loe Fisher
w ww.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
www.NVIC.org
www.Stand UpBeCounted.org

When it comes to hiding vaccine risks from the people, all you have to do is "follow the money" to find out who has always done it the best. There are a number of influential non-profit organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Every Child by Two, and Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) that have been funded by drug companies selling vaccines and/or have been paid by federal agencies using taxpayer dollars to push vaccine use.

On July 25, CBS News reported on some of the financial ties between vaccine manufacturers and non-profit organizations or individuals (i.e., rotavirus vaccine patent holder Paul Offit, M.D.) who are aggressively promoting vaccination and refusing to acknowledge vaccine risks. The report infuriated a new "non-profit" organization, Voices for Vaccines, that demanded CBS News retract its story and "apologize" for informing the public about the money connection between the pharmaceutical industry and individuals and organizations urging people to buy and use vaccines. On August 1, CBS News issued a statement defending the public's right to know:

"Our report last Friday represents one part of the extensive reporting CBS News has done, and will continue to do, on the issues surrounding vaccines and possible links to autism. That continuing coverage has repeatedly reported on the critical importance of the nation's maintaining a robust vaccination program for children. Reporting on what critics, including members of Congress, believe to be potential conflicts of interest for vaccine advocates who receive funding from vaccine makers is also an entirely legitimate aspect of our overall coverage. We believe our report was in no way defamatory of any institution or individual, and that no retraction is warranted."

While parents are doing their own research so they can make educated vaccine choices for their children that minimize vaccine risks, celebrities questioning vaccine safety such as Jenny McCarthy are being challenged by celebrities defending vaccine safety such as Amanda Peet, Yesterday, Peet became the celebrity spokesperson for Every Child by Two.

When you connect the dots in a "Follow the Vaccine Money" exercise, you don't have to look very far to see who is paying who to promote unquestioning faith in the safety of vaccines and one- size-fits-all vaccine policies. It takes a lot of money for the drug companies and their allies to persuade parents that it is necessary to pump 69 doses of 16 vaccines into children from birth to age 18 to keep them healthy.

Here are some of the major players:

* The Carter Center, founded in 1984 by Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter is affiliated with Emory University and sponsors vaccination programs funded by drug companies and operated by former employees of the CDC. (Rosalyn Carter co- founded Every Child by Two with Betty Bumpers in 1991 with funding from vaccine manufacturers.) Several vaccine manufacturers have donated more than $1 million to the Carter Center.

* The International Task Force for Disease Eradication is sponsored by the Carter Center and operates programs that are funded by vaccine manufacturers (see "Health Program Partners"at ) and directed by present and former CDC officials for the purpose of eradicating infectious diseases including polio, mumps and rubella through mass vaccination programs.

* The Carter Center is a partner with the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, which sponsors programs funded by vaccine manufacturers and directed by former CDC officials such as William Foege, M.D., M.P.H. and Alan Hinman, M.D., M.P.H.

* The Task Force for Child Survival and Development is sponsoring Voices for Vaccines, which has a Steering Committee composed of individuals employed by an affiliate of the Carter Center or Every Child by Two and non-profit organizations, many of whom receive funding from vaccine manufacturers such as the American Academy of Family Physicians and Immunization Action Coalition and P-Kids and Families Fighting Flu.

These are only some of the major players keeping the Vaccine Machine up and running smoothly in the U.S. It is a machine powered by a national and international web of individuals working for and with major pharmaceutical corporations, government health agencies, non-profit medical organizations, world banks, the World Health Organization and wealthy philanthropic foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make sure that people in every country continue to purchase and use many vaccines without thinking about it.

The public health program that began with a mandate to eradicate smallpox from the earth using smallpox vaccine has turned into a lucrative ATM for the drug companies. It provides a kind of money laundering scheme for "non-profits" who pretend to be free from conflicts of interest with an industry whose products they are hawking. It has also become a money pit for the American taxpayer feeding the insatiable Vaccine Machine creating hundreds of new vaccines being tested in more than 2,000 clinical trials that will no doubt be candidates for future vaccine mandates.

Amanda Peet, who is being coached by doctors to tell parents to "trust the doctors," has learned her lines well but neither she nor Jenny McCarthy will ultimately decide the fate of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement begun by parents of vaccine injured children in 1982. Because what is at stake is not the outcome of a Hollywood celebrity face- off but the ability of the American people to free themselves from the tyranny of the "medical experts" who have betrayed the public trust by failing to do their job.

For nearly three decades, before and after passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, parents have been calling on doctors in charge of the mass vaccination system to find out how and why vaccines injure and kill some children. We have been asking doctors to give us a good explanation for why so many of our highly vaccinated children are so chronically ill with 1 in 6 becoming learning disabled; 1 in 9 suffering with asthma and 1 in 150 developing autism. And the only explanation we get or action we have seen is doctors and government health agencies sticking their heads in the sand and twisting themselves into pretzels yelling "it's a coincidence" every time a child regresses into chronic poor health after vaccination.

The last thing we need to do is return to the dark ages when we allowed ourselves to be treated like the infants whose lives we entrusted without question to paternalistic pediatricians patting us on the head. You don't have to have an M.D. or Ph.D. written after your name to become an informed health care consumer and weigh the benefits and risks of vaccination in order to make an intelligent, well considered vaccine decision for your child or yourself.

Unquestioning faith belongs in a church and not in a doctor's office.


__________________________________________



"Tonight, on the CBS Evening News, we dig into the allegations of financial conflicts of interest among some widely-quoted "independent" voices in the debates over vaccine safety. We weren't as lucky as Grassley: The groups we approached refused to provide us with a full accounting of their financial relationships. Although two of the groups receive tax benefits for their non-profit status, they are not required to file such details with the IRS and would not provide them to us, either. In the case of a prominent vaccine specialist who is routinely offered up as an "independent" voice to speak on vaccine safety, he, too, was unwilling to disclose to us how much remuneration he's received from the vaccine industry. And the vaccine companies we asked? They said they would not, or could not give such information as: financial support they give to educational institutions, physicians and research projects; a list of outside physicians who are on the payroll as researchers, speakers, advisors or consultants; and an accounting of funding provided to non-profits, medical organizations and government entities such as IOM, NIH, CDC and FDA." - Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Blog (June 25, 2008) http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs /2008/07/25/couricandco/entry4295088.shtml? source=search_story

"The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters.... Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much. A spokesman told CBS News: "There are simply no conflicts to be unearthed." But guess who's listed as the group's treasurers? Officials from Wyeth and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients. Then there's Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely-quoted defender of vaccine safety. He's gone so far as to say babies can tolerate "10,000 vaccines at once." This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview: "I'm the chief of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at Penn's medical school," he said. Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject but like others in this CBS News investigation, he has strong industry ties. In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider. Offit holds in a $1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck. He holds the patent on an anti- diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merck, Rotateq, which has prevented thousands of hospitalizations. And future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash. Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits? Unknown." - Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News (June 25, 2008) http://www.c bsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/cbsnews_investigate s/main4296175.shtml

"Voices For Vaccines objects to the defamatory allegations made by the CBS Evening News on Friday, July 25, against the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, with our colleague Dr. Paul Offit singled out for baseless criticism. It is our privilege to partner with these institutions in our mission to disseminate reliable information about vaccines. These groups advocate for immunization based on the overwhelming evidence for the lifesaving power of vaccination, and motivated by a sincere concern for the health of America's children. It is preposterous and deeply offensive for CBS to suggest otherwise by insinuating that the pharmaceutical industry improperly influences the views of these vaccine advocate.... An obvious starting point for an unbiased reporter assigned to investigate this possibility would have been to determine whether the advocates' recommendations were in accord with the scientific consensus on immunization, as articulated by neutral bodies such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....." - Lisa Randall, Voices for Vaccines letter to CBS (July 31, 2008) http://voicesforvaccines.org/Blog/wp- content/uploads/2008/08/cbs-vaccine- letter1.pdf

"The new "Vaccinate Your Baby" campaign will address misperceptions about vaccines that cause confusion among parents and put children at risk. "When I was pregnant with my daughter Frankie, I had all kinds of questions, including ones about immunization," said Ms. Peet. "There is a wealth of misinformation about vaccines out there, particularly in Hollywood. My husband and I took the time to speak to several doctors about our concerns. What became clear to us was that delaying vaccines could jeopardize our baby's life. I have teamed up with Every Child By Two to help parents get the facts straight on this very important issue." Ms. Peet added, "My main message to parents is that they should not be taking medical advice from me or any other celebrity. They should look to their pediatrician, the AAP and other experts." - Every Child by Two Press Release (August 5, 2008) http://www.vaccinateyo urbaby.org/news/releases/2008/080805_peet_ecbt.cf m

...

July 25, 2008, 4:56 PM


The "Independent" Voices Of Vaccine Safety
Posted by Sharyl Attkisson http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs /2008/07/25/couricandco/entry4295088.shtml? source=search_story


...
(CBS)
Sharyl Attkisson is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News.

For years, members of Congress have been investigating financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and the government, doctors and researchers, research hospitals, colleges and universities. Sen. Charles Grassley, who has most recently been digging into money links between drug companies and the American Psychiatric Association, puts it this way: "I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions."

In a letter to its members, the APA says it supports complete transparency and plans to provide Grassley with the information he's requested: "a complete accounting of APA revenues, except from advertising in our journals, from pharmaceutical companies, starting in 2003." The APA notes: "We are not alone; recent public focus on relationships between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry is a challenge for the whole field of medicine."

Indeed, the APA is not alone in being the subject of public focus and scrutiny for its relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Tonight, on the CBS Evening News, we dig into the allegations of financial conflicts of interest among some widely- quoted "independent" voices in the debates over vaccine safety. We weren't as lucky as Grassley: The groups we approached refused to provide us with a full accounting of their financial relationships. Although two of the groups receive tax benefits for their non-profit status, they are not required to file such details with the IRS and would not provide them to us, either.

In the case of a prominent vaccine specialist who is routinely offered up as an "independent" voice to speak on vaccine safety, he, too, was unwilling to disclose to us how much remuneration he's received from the vaccine industry.

And the vaccine companies we asked? They said they would not, or could not give such information as: financial support they give to educational institutions, physicians and research projects; a list of outside physicians who are on the payroll as researchers, speakers, advisors or consultants; and an accounting of funding provided to non-profits, medical organizations and government entities such as IOM, NIH, CDC and FDA. With all of those refusals, you might be surprised to find we had enough information to put together a story for tonight's CBS Evening News. But you might be more surprised at what we did find. And we'll show you tonight.


How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?
by Sharyl Attkisson
CBS-TV
July 25, 2008

http://www.c bsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/cbsnews_investigate s/main4296175.shtml
Washington, D.C. - For years some parents and scientists have raised concerns about vaccine safety, including a possible link to autism and ADD. Many independent experts have sided with government officials and other scientists who say there's no possible connection. But how "independent" are they?
_______________________________________ _

They're some of the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety: the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit.

But CBS News has found these three have something more in common - strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend.

The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters. The totals are kept secret, but public documents reveal bits and pieces.

· A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which makes $2 billion a year in sales.

· A $433,000 contribution from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's HPV vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales.

· Another top donor: Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new five-in-one combo shot just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last month.

Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much.

A spokesman told CBS News: "There are simply no conflicts to be unearthed." But guess who's listed as the group's treasurers? Officials from Wyeth and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients.

Then there's Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely- quoted defender of vaccine safety. He's gone so far as to say babies can tolerate "10,000 vaccines at once."

This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview: "I'm the chief of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at Penn's medical school," he said.

Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject but like others in this CBS News investigation, he has strong industry ties. In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider. Offit holds in a $1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck. He holds the patent on an anti-diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merck, Rotateq, which has prevented thousands of hospitalizations.

And future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash. Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits? Unknown.

There's nothing illegal about the financial relationships, but to critics, they pose a serious risk for conflicts of interest. As one member of Congress put it, money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of those who hold themselves out to be "independent."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two and Dr. Offit would not agree to interviews, but all told us they're up front about the money they receive, and it doesn't sway their opinions.
Today's immunization schedule now calls for kids to get 55 doses of vaccines by age 6. Ideally, it makes for a healthier society. But critics worry that industry ties could impact the advice given to the public about all those vaccines.


Letter from Voices for Vaccines to Katie Couric, CBS News
Katie Couric, Managing Editor
CBS Television Network
524 West 57th Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10019-2902

July 31, 2008

Via Facsimile

http://voicesforvaccines.org/Blog/wp- content/uploads/2008/08/cbs-vaccine-letter1.pdf
Dear Ms. Couric:

Voices For Vaccines objects to the defamatory allegations made by the CBS Evening News on Friday, July 25, against the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, with our colleague Dr. Paul Offit singled out for baseless criticism.

It is our privilege to partner with these institutions in our mission to disseminate reliable information about vaccines. These groups advocate for immunization based on the overwhelming evidence for the lifesaving power of vaccination, and motivated by a sincere concern for the health of America's children. It is preposterous and deeply offensive for CBS to suggest otherwise by insinuating that the pharmaceutical industry improperly influences the views of these vaccine advocates.

An obvious starting point for an unbiased reporter assigned to investigate this possibility would have been to determine whether the advocates' recommendations were in accord with the scientific consensus on immunization, as articulated by neutral bodies such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (In fact, all three subjects of the CBS story do promote vaccination according to federal guidelines.)

In contrast, Sharyl Attkisson relied solely upon tangential observations in concluding that the judgment of these respected authorities has been co- opted by drug companies. Ms. Attkisson's choice to pursue her story even after failing to uncover evidence of malfeasance reveals not bias on the part of the story's subjects, but on the part of Ms. Attkisson herself. Professionalism required her to acknowledge that the targets of her story have done nothing other than emphasize to the public that which is well known to science - that vaccines allow children to grow up safe and healthy.

We call upon CBS to issue a retraction of Ms. Attkisson's report and an apology to the individuals and institutions whose good and honorable work in the field of immunization has been smeared. We further ask CBS to reflect upon the fact that it does not befit a user of the public airwaves to broadcast misleading claims about the most important public health measure of our time.

Sincerely,

Lisa Randall
Interim Executive Director

cc: Katie Boyle, Senior Producer
Jonathan LaPook, M.D., Medical Correspondent
Sharyl Attkisson, Reporter


Actor Amanda Peet Joins with Every Child By Two and the American Academy of Pediatrics to Urge Parents to Get the Facts About Immunizations
August 5, 2008

http://www.vaccinateyo urbaby.org/news/releases/2008/080805_peet_ecbt.cf m

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Amy Pisani, 202-277-7587, amyp@ecbt.org
August 5, 2008 (NEW YORK, NY): Every Child By Two (ECBT) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are launching a new campaign with actor Amanda Peet to urge parents to immunize their children against vaccine-preventable diseases. The new "Vaccinate Your Baby" campaign will address misperceptions about vaccines that cause confusion among parents and put children at risk.
"When I was pregnant with my daughter Frankie, I had all kinds of questions, including ones about immunization," said Ms. Peet. "There is a wealth of misinformation about vaccines out there, particularly in Hollywood. My husband and I took the time to speak to several doctors about our concerns. What became clear to us was that delaying vaccines could jeopardize our baby's life. I have teamed up with Every Child By Two to help parents get the facts straight on this very important issue."

Ms. Peet added, "My main message to parents is that they should not be taking medical advice from me or any other celebrity. They should look to their pediatrician, the AAP and other experts."

Myths about the safety of immunizations are resulting in real-life consequences. The United States is now facing its largest measles outbreak since 1997. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 132 people have contracted measles since the beginning of the year - many of these cases are a result of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children on time.

"The recommended schedule for vaccination of children was developed to protect babies at the earliest possible opportunity," said Dr. Renée Jenkins, president of the AAP. "Despite recent theories to the contrary, spreading out vaccines over time can place your child at risk of contracting serious and sometimes deadly diseases."

In fact, ECBT was founded in 1991 in response to a similar outbreak of measles during which nearly 150 people died, many of whom were young children. This new campaign is part of ECBT's efforts to avert a similar tragedy.

Amy Pisani, Executive Director of ECBT, said, "Vaccines are very safe, but online rumors are needlessly jeopardizing the health of our children. Few people realize just how rigorously vaccines are tested before they are approved for use and how many safeguards are already in place to ensure the ongoing safety of vaccines after they are licensed. Our campaign aims to dispel these myths and remind parents to get the facts before they make this critical decision regarding their children's health."

For more information on the safety of vaccines, as well as to view new public service announcements featuring Ms. Peet, please visit ECBT's new web site, www.vaccinateyourbaby.org.





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NVIC E-News is a free service of the National Vaccine Information Center and is supported through donations.

NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co- founder.

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