"In other CDC news- former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding (2002-2009) was just appointed by Merck to head up their 5 billion dollar a year global vaccine division. ..... How delightfully ironic the person who headed up the CDC- who sat back and watched autism become an epidemic in this country and couldn’t tell us anything except “it’s not the vaccines” will now be working for a major vaccine manufacturer. Heck, maybe they had her on the payroll all along? You can’t even make this stuff up."
Andrea Keller, Letter to the Editor, Vindy.com
The press release of Dr. Julie Gerberding's move to Merck's global vaccine division after recently serving as head of the CDC was dumped at a time when it would be drowned out by the hectic Christmas season. Andrea Keller was paying attention though and hopefully autism bloggers and concerned parents will keep this news alive. The cozy ties between public health authorities like the CDC and pharma giants like Merck raise important public health issues, in this case autism issues, that should not be obscured by skillful news cycle manipulation.
autism
Hi Harold,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog. It is interesting that in the autism realm vaccines are still widely believed to cause autism, even though studies have shown there is no statistically significant correlation between the two. While I think it is certainly possible that some children are sensitive to the vaccine and may trigger it (it is possible), it is not proven. My 2-year old daughter is autistic and we continue to vaccinate her and her typically developing brother. This "conspiracy theory" about vaccines is particularly common in the biomedical treatment community which also advocates for other treatments that are unproven or disproven (e.g. oxygen chambers). Anyway while I am open to the possibility that vaccines may be to blame, I have seen studies showing they are not and not a single study showing they are to blame, only anecdotal stories from parents decrying vaccines - the same parents who claim epsom salt baths "detoxify" their children from "heavy metal poisoning" (also unproven). This is a decision every parent needs to make for themselves but I am willing to take the risk to prevent horrible childhood diseases we have now eradicated.
Hi Tim
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I have an open mind on the issue of whether vaccines, vaccine ingredients or the number of vaccinations might trigger autism in some predisposed children. Especially if their mother received vaccines containing thimerosal while they were in utero. Dr. Bernardine Healy and former CDC Director and new head of Merkcs vaccine division Dr. Julie Gerberding, have said that more studies should be done.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here at FANB.
Harold