Toxic Exposures
MedPage Today Admits Mumps Vaccine Doesn’t Work, Shrugs Off RFK Jr.’s Concerns by Blaming His Law Career
Medpage Today confirmed that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements that mumps vaccines aren’t very effective and that Merck committed fraud to cover up the vaccine’s low efficacy rates are true. However, the outlet claimed Kennedy publicly criticized the vaccine only because of his history as a personal injury lawyer.
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In an interview last month, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told TV host Dr. Phil that the mumps portion of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine “never worked.”
MedPage Today published a story on the statement, conceding “the mumps vaccine’s less-than-stellar performance is no secret.” However, the article attempted to justify why it doesn’t matter that the mumps portion of the vaccine doesn’t work well.
The article quoted vaccine promoter Dr. Paul Offit, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who said the only reason Kennedy raises concerns about vaccine effectiveness is because of his “history as a personal injury lawyer.”
“He’s still the personal injury lawyer he’s been for the last 20 years, suing pharmaceutical companies, that’s who he is,” Offit told MedPage Today. “Even though somebody else is paying him — not Children’s Health Defense, but you and me — you think he would be responsible to the American public. Nope, he’s still in the personal injury lawyer business.”
Mumps outbreaks occur every year, and most cases occur among vaccinated people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says experts “aren’t sure why vaccinated people still get mumps.”
The mumps vaccine is one component of the MMR shot. There are two MMR vaccines on the market: Merck’s MMRII, the only version available for decades, and GSK’s Priorix.
Kennedy’s concerns about the MMR vaccine relate to two separate lawsuits filed against Merck, alleging the company committed fraud by misrepresenting critical data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to gain approval for its vaccine.
In both cases, the courts ruled that even though the evidence showed Merck made fraudulent claims about the efficacy of its mumps vaccine, the company shouldn’t be held responsible because of legal technicalities. As a result, the ineffective vaccine remains on the shelves.
One of the lawsuits also showed that Merck’s MMRII was not safety tested after the company fraudulently changed the formula to include a higher dose of the mumps virus.
Neither of the two mumps vaccines on the market — Merck’s and GSK’s — were ever safety tested against an inert placebo.
The original MMRII trials had only 834 children in them. One-third of those children developed gastrointestinal issues and one-third developed respiratory issues.
In the Priorix trial, both vaccine groups had a high rate of serious adverse events, emergency room visits, and new chronic diseases, according to the Informed Consent Action Network.
Merck’s fraud
Merck was the sole licensed U.S. producer of the mumps vaccine from 1967-2022.
In the late 1990s, a regulatory labeling review revealed that the mumps vaccine, a component of Merck’s MMRII, did not maintain the stated potency — and therefore effectiveness — over its shelf life, in violation of FDA regulations.
Merck, with the FDA’s knowledge, boosted the initial potency of the vaccine by overfilling doses with extra quantities of live virus, hoping to create a better buffer to maintain potency throughout its shelf life while the company addressed the potency issues.
The temporary fix didn’t work. But Merck didn’t inform the FDA for fear the agency would compel the drugmaker to reduce the efficacy claims on the label, which would open the door for GSK’s rival mumps vaccine.
GSK sold its mumps vaccine in Europe, but the company could gain approval to sell its MMR vaccine in the U.S. only if the drugmaker could show the vaccine wasn’t any less effective than Merck’s, which claimed 95% efficacy.
To block that possible competition, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in October 2024, ruled that “Merck sought to extend its apparent monopoly,” by misrepresenting the end of shelf-life vaccine potency and by filing a Supplemental License Application seeking FDA approval to maintain its efficacy claims with a less potent vaccine.
To support the application, Merck attempted to develop more sensitive tests that would allow it to make higher efficacy claims with its less effective drug. Its vaccine trial, Protocol 7, “was a flawed study that did not reliably capture immunogenicity,” the court ruled.
In another lawsuit related to the same fraudulent labeling issue, whistleblowers Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, who worked as virologists on Merck’s Protocol 7 study, alleged they witnessed improper testing, data falsification and violation of duties of government disclosure.
In that lawsuit, evidence showed that the FDA inspected Merck’s lab and confirmed evidence of data falsification related to vaccine testing, potency and shelf life.
It was also revealed that the overfilled doses had never been tested for safety or efficacy.
Dr. David Kessler, former head of the FDA, detailed the fraud in a two-part deposition he gave for the whistleblower lawsuit.
Kessler’s deposition also revealed that Merck, rather than informing regulators that it was “overfilling” its MMR vaccine, relied on passive surveillance — reports from parents on vaccine reactions in their children — to identify possible safety signals.
Yet, the company used that trial data to persuade the FDA to approve its application. As a result, “Merck continued to make unsupported or misleading claims about the shelf life and seroconversion of its mumps vaccine on the drug label,” the court found.
GSK was locked out of the market, giving Merck an effective monopoly, until 2022.
Despite the acknowledged fraud, the FDA has never required Merck to change the relevant drug-label claims, “issued a recall, ordered revaccinations, or taken any other action against Merck for the purported issues with its mumps vaccine.”
The CDC still purchased the drugs for the Vaccines for Children Program, and its advisory committee continues to endorse it.
In an interview last year on “The Defender In-Depth,” Children’s Health Defense Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker said Merck’s overfill practice may still be continuing today.
“We’re in no-man’s land,” Hooker said. “We do not know how this is going to affect the body because this has never been tested at this concentration. This was a brand experiment that they foisted on the public of the United States.”
Hooker also said the allegations against Merck are indicative of broader corruption among public health agencies and pharmaceutical companies — including a “revolving door” between the two.
Related articles in The Defender- ‘Highly Confidential’: Former FDA Chief Details Fraud in Merck’s Testing, Marketing of Mumps Vaccine
- Court Confirms Merck Lied on Mumps Vaccine Label — But Lets Drugmaker Off the Hook in Antitrust Lawsuit
- ‘Fraud, Pure and Simple’: Merck Mumps Vaccine May Contain Up to 4 Times Approved Amount of Live Virus
- Breaking: Appeals Court Dismisses Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Merck Over MMR Vaccine
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