Former CDC Chief To Head Merck Vaccines Unit
18 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // December 21st, 2009 // 12:35 pm
Julie Gerberding, who until this year was the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was named president of Merck’s vaccine division. Gerberding, who led the CDC from 2002 to 2009, stepped down when President Barack Obama took office this year (see statement).
The move comes a few months after Margie McGlynn, a former sales and marketing exec, retired as Merck’s vaccines chief. The big drugmaker markets vaccines for several childhood ailments, as well as shingles and Gardasil, which combats the human papillomavirus, or HPV. Last year, however, vaccine sales fell 2 percent amid manufacturing woes and controversy over Gardasil safety and marketing.
Gerberding had led the agency during a series of crises - the investigation into anthrax attacks that killed five people in 2001, the H5N1 avian influenza, the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and various outbreaks of food poisoning. She also caused controversy - she was criticized for following Bush administration’s politics and allowing the White House to censor her Senate testimony on the impact of climate change on public health.
Dan
The political revolving door continues:
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/politics/revolvingdoor.html
Lisa
And don’t forget, during her leadership at CDC almost 700,000 patients died from infections they acquired while hospitalized.
Cathy
As CDC director, she moved the division of vaccine safety under her direct supervision. Now she’s president of Merck’s vaccine division. These kinds of revolving doors don’t inspire trust. At the very least, this creates a strong appearance of impropriety.
Evelyn Pringle
Mark my word, we will see the revolving door swinging at record speed once the health care deform give away bill is passed.
Just as it did when the Medicare Prescription Drug scam was passed.
Justice in MI
Thanks to Dan for chart.
These are only some of the “big names” (and up to 2006). If one included the carousel between Congressional staffers and, say, industry lobbyists, you ‘d have a _much_ longer list. This barely the tip of relevant iceberg. And definitely nothing new, as the long career of Rumsfeld (among many) suggests.
patrons99
How can we really trust the public health recommendations coming from CDC and FDA and WHO as to both drugs and biologicals? Pharma’s influence is undeniable. The conflict of interest is enormous. Whose interest do they represent? They would never act to hurt the global pharmaceutical franchise. The public trust in these organizations is misguided. And with global pandemic’s becoming more frequent, we could be in some serious trouble.
SteveM
FDA, CDC, NIH are “mobbed up” with Big Pharma infiltration. Tony Soprano would be proud.
The Gerberding Merck appointment is simply business as usual. She got the job because she’s greased.
BTW, it’s the same with DOD and the Military-Industrial complex as well as the other civilian agencies. DC revolving door Reptiles.
Your tax dollars at work.
AnneS
http://tinyurl.com/yco56yy
nhokkanen
To understand the inside Gerberding backstories, also see:
Fake News, Fuzzy Science and Storytelling in the Autism/Vaccine Debate
http://krakowlawfirm.com/uploads/2009_Issue_31_Tozzi_RJK_Autism_File.pdf
and
Julie Gerberding Named Head of Merck Vaccines
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/
JB Handley
Autism activists, particularly those who believe vaccines are a primary cause of regressive autism, are often derided for conspiratorial comments about the CDC and Big Pharma. This one is making us look more sane every day. JB Handley
Doc
I don’t about you, but somehow this doesn’t make me feel good about the future promotional direction of Merck vaccines.
Compliance Analyst
Just out of curiosity…where would a former head of the CDC go to work after leaving the CDC? I am sure the options are limited….
patrons99
Doc, I could not agree more.
I see two potential public health disasters on the horizon:
Is there chronic, cummulative, synergistic toxicity of all vaccines from adjuvants, preservatives, stabilizers, metals (aluminum and mercury), and uncertain biologic recombinants, which are administered over a lifetime, beginning in childhood? Why has the work of Dr Andrew Moulden been marginalized by the mainstream medical establishment? Seemingly, all of the news media, global regulatory bodies, and mainstream medical establishment, are betting our lives that he is wrong.
http://vactruth.com/2009/07/21/dr-andrew-moulden-interview-what-you-were-never-told-about-vaccines/
As a physician and former bioorganic chemist, I can tell you that todays vaccine schedules are outrageous in their quantity and they begin at birth. Are they toxic cocktails ostensibly promulgated to prevent disease. What about chronic toxicity? In disease prevention, is there not an even greater duty for physicians to first, do not harm? As for emerging diseases, why has the mainstream media and CDC not disclosed what is going on in the Ukraine?
Hemorrhagic Pneumonic Plague in the Ukraine. Over a million infected. Dont they think the public can handle the truth? The CDC is disclosing only what they want us to know. Do they have an agenda? Are they acting in our best interest? We should all pray that they are. Full disclosure (sunshine) may be the best disinfectant. Will any vaccine or antiviral afford protection against the Ukrainian strain? How will it spread? Will it appear throughout the world in separate clusters, whenever a specific recombination (e.g., viral evolution) occurs? What treatment, if any, will be effective?
A November 24th OpEdNews article by Peter Duveen may be of general interest:
Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=15073
November 24, 2009
Scientific paper points to possible laboratory origin of
swine flu
By Peter Duveen
See also David Phillips BNET articles:
http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10005827/efficacy-of-roches-flu-drug-tamiflu-in-doubt/?tag=content;set-more-posts
http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10005074/biocryst-pharmaceuticals-antiviral-peramivir-aims-to-keep-influenza-body-count-low/?tag=content;top-active#comments
vince
Julie who believes the best way to track vaccine reactions is to ignore them receives her reward. Why would anyone doubt the recommendations of the CDC ?
pharmavet
Sometimes political connections can actually benefit patients. I will use the example of Don Rumsfeld since he was mentioned above. I was at GD Searle when Rumsfeld was CEO. In my opinion, Rumsfeld is the only person who could have succeeded in getting aspartame approved as an artificial sweetener. There are are plenty of diabetics who are grateful to Rumsfeld for getting a product approved as an alternative to cyclamates, which are carcinogenic, or saccharin, which some patients can’t tolerate. Rumsfeld was a hard-charging CEO, but he knew how to pull the right strings.
As for Gerberding, i would have preferred someone with a QA/QC background, given Merck’s vaccine manufacturing woes.
Lisa Van Syckel
Pharmavet, Don Rumsfeld? really now.
patrons99
According to a December 18, 2009, New York Times article by Gardiner Harris, “Advisers on Vaccines Often Have Conflicts, Report Says”.
This report will likely confirm what we should have suspected all along as to the CDC’s recommendations on mass vaccination programs. They cannot be trusted. They are bought and paid for by the global puppet masters (pharma) who have an enormous vested interest in global healthcare policy. We have lost control over our lives to people that, frankly, do not have our best interests at heart.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/health/policy/18cdc.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/health/18cdc.pdf
“A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety, officials said Thursday.
Most of the experts who served on advisory panels in 2007 to evaluate vaccines for flu and cervical cancer had potential conflicts that were never resolved, the report said. Some were legally barred from considering the issues but did so anyway.
In the report, expected to be released Friday, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the centers failed nearly every time to ensure that the experts adequately filled out forms confirming they were not being paid by companies with an interest in their decisions.”
patrons99
Here is a must-read article which, regardless of the position you take on the subject, addresses one of the most important public health issues we face today.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Council-of-Foreign-Rel-by-Richard-Gale-091223-162.html
It is an OpEdNews article on December 24, 2009, titled _The Council of Foreign Relations Enters the Vaccine Biz_, by Richard Gale.