Aug 092012
Article posted by the National Vaccine Information Centre
By Theresa K. Wrangham, NVIC Executive Director
In 2010 two virologists, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, filed a lawsuit against their former employer and vaccine manufacturer Merck. The lawsuit, which was unsealed in late June, alleges that Merck defrauded the U.S. for over 10 years by overstating the MMR vaccine’s effectiveness. The virologists claim in their lawsuit that they “witnessed firsthand the improper testing and data falsification in which Merck engaged to artificially inflate the vaccine’s efficacy findings.” NVIC’s President and Co-Founder, Barbara Loe Fisher, was interviewed on July 10 by Dr. Joseph Mercola about this most recent lawsuit brought against Merck, which enjoys global vaccine sales totaling over $20 billion a year.
Is the fox guarding the chicken coop?
This is not the first time that quality control issues have been raised regarding Merck vaccines and Fisher points out during the interview that in 2010 Merck’s RotaTeq® vaccine was contaminated with a virus lethal to baby pigs.
During the interview Fisher discusses the dangerously cozy relationship and conflicts of interest that exist between federal agencies charged with vaccine safety oversight and vaccine manufacturers. NVIC has long been on record as calling for an independent investigation into federal agency conflicts of interest and the creation of an independent agency to oversee vaccine safety.
To view the interview, or download the transcript, click here.