Any information obtained here is not to be construed as medical or legal
advice. The decision to vaccinate and how you implement that decision is
yours and yours alone.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: PART ONE An examination of the PR and financial incentives behind vaccination programs, By Hilary Butler, October 2003 EMAIL me if you are not able to access this file vaccineinfo@tesco.net
Many articles on conflict of interestRezulin Dangers Withheld
"The FDA is reviewing accusations that the manufacturer of the diabetes
drug Rezulin withheld evidence of liver toxicity from the agency until
six months after Rezulin was marketed. A spokeswoman for the agency
said it would look into accusations by Public Citizen's Health Research
Group, a patient advocacy group, that Rezulin's maker delayed telling
the FDA that 21 patients had developed liver abnormalities while taking
the drug before it was approved. Federal regulations require that drug
companies report adverse drug reactions to the drug agency within 15
days of learning about them. In a March 14 letter to the agency, Public
Citizen requested a criminal investigation of the manufacturer,
Parke-Davis, division of the Warner-Lambert Company of Morris Plains,
NJ"
Editorial Reply Re: Congressional Hearings on Vaccines and
Autism
Mandating Vaccines: Government Practicing Medicine Without
a License?
From: Dawn Richardson, PROVE
This is a phenomenal letter written by a parent of a vaccine injured
child in response to an editorial comment published on WebMD. It
clearly illustrates the incestuous ties some of those who make
vaccine decisions for our children have with drug companies. These
are the very people who are critical of the parents and elected
representatives who are doing such a great job shedding light on
some of the dangers of vaccines because of the threat the truth
poses to their pocketbooks. The internet (source of all this
information) is a wonderful thing.
-----------------------------------------
In Reply to Editorial Comment from: Wayne L. Pines Re: Congressional
Hearings on Vaccines and Autism
Wayne L. Pines, you belittle Congressman Burton as an "angry
grandfather" when his goal is to make vaccines safer for children.
Your feeble attempt to undermine Congressman Burton's efforts made
sense only after your ties to the vaccine manufacturers and drug
companies were revealed. This is a day in your life Wayne L. Pines.
Let's see who you really are and then people will understand that
your words are meaningless because they are motivated by avarice.
You started your career in Washington as the associate editor for
The Pink Sheet a pharmaceutical trade magazine. Then you went to
work at the FDA for 10 years from 1972 to 1982. Your next job was
with the PR firm Burson-Marsteller. After that, you got a job with
APCO Associates. Then you joined a company called Therametrix (1).
In between you became involved with various pharmaceutical trade
groups such as the Food and Drug Law Institute (2), the Drug
Information Association (3), and the Internet Healthcare Coalition
(4).
Now let's start connecting the dots to see why you would not want a
public discussion about how to improve the safety of our children's
vaccines. We'll pick-up your career after you leave the FDA. You
immediately landed a job with the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (a
subsidiary of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam). Your title
there was executive vice president. Marsteller clients include
Monsanto and their bio-engineered foods and Dow-Corning and their
silicon breast implants. In addition, Marsteller has several large
drug companies as clients including Eli Lilly. Lilly produces the
drug Prozac which has accumulated more adverse reaction reports than
any substance (besides vaccines) in the history of the FDA's adverse
drug reporting system. Documents released under the Freedom of
Information Act challenged the veracity of Prozac's clinical trials
that led to FDA approval. Lilly's PR firm Burson-Marsteller was
called in to do damage control. There, according to the Campaign
Against Fraudulent Medical Research, it was reported that you helped
Lilly get past its troubles by exploiting your contacts with current
FDA officials (5).
You then became president of the Health Care Practice of APCO
Associates a "communications consulting firm." According to PR
Watch, APCO Associates specializes in setting up front groups and
coalitions for the tobacco and insurance companies (6). In fact,
APCO's website boasts that "excellence in public affairs and public
relations, like excellence in art, is about the power of
communication" (7). No it's not. Excellence in public affairs is
about honest communication and adding substance to the public
discourse. It's what Congressman Burton is doing. It's not about
ridiculous, crude and poorly veiled attempts to protect and further
your client base. You may think excellence in public affairs and
public relations is about power, but power won't help you when it
comes to our children. As much as it may disturb your plans, parents
will not sacrifice the health and lives of their children in order
to drive up the stock prices of your drug company clients.
Next you joined Therametrix whose website gloats that "Wayne L.
Pines is a world-renowned health care consultant (who) has consulted
for virtually all of the major pharmaceutical companies..."(1). It
also states that Therametrix is a "medical marketing research agency
that serves the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and
consumer health products industries" (8). Your clients are listed as
including: Abbot Laboratories, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Du Pont
Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Wellcome, Novartis
Pharmaceuticals, Pharacia & Upjohn, Procter & Gamble
Pharmaceuticals, Roche Laboratories, Schering-Plough, Triangle
Pharmaceuticals and Warner Lambert - all of them drug and vaccine
manufacturers (9). Your company's mission statement declares, "We
see nothing more important than meeting our client's needs" (9). I
don't doubt it.
You are also on the marketing and advertising committee of the Drug
Information Association which describes itself as a "member-driven
scientific association with a membership of over 22,000 primarily
from the regulatory agencies, academia, contract service
organizations, pharmaceutical, biological and device industry, and
from other health care organizations" (10). Who are some of the
other committee members in the Drug Information Association? They
include Dr. R. Venkataraghaven of Lederle Laboratories (3)
manufacturer of Orimune, Tetramune and other vaccines, Dr. Elizabeth
B. D'Angelo of AstraZeneca (3), and Dr. John F. Bedard of
Bristol-Myers Squibb (3). The board of directors include Stuart W.
Cummings of Merck, Sharp & Dohme manufacturer of the vaccines
associated with autism - MMR, MR Vax, Meruvax II, Mumpsvax, Varivax
and others, Francoise de Cremiers of Wyeth-Ayerst another major
vaccine manufacturer, Charles C. Depew of SmithKline Beecham,
Brenton James of Glaxo Wellcome, Murray Lumpkin of the FDA, and
Irwin G. Martin of Parke-Davis (11).
In addition, you are a member of the Food and Drug Law Institute
which describes itself "as a private organization, not affiliated
with the FDA.(but our) mission, however, does relate to the
activities, policies and procedures of the FDA..."(12). As a
participant in this institute you work with the other members, and
in fact, you are scheduled to moderate one of the institute's
conferences on medical technology, drugs and biologics (i.e.
vaccines) in June of this year (2). Nearly every drug company
including the major vaccine manufacturers is a member of this
organization. The list includes: American Home Products (i.e.
Lederle), Bayer, Medeva Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Organon
Teknika, and SmithKline Beecham.
I could go on and on about your affiliations with vaccine
manufacturers and drug companies but I believe the point has been
made ad nauseam.
One of Congressman Burton's assertions is that an inherent conflict
of interest may exist amongst the people who decide what gets
injected into our children's veins. The Congressman understands that
many of the individuals in our halls of government who make health
decisions affecting our children get money from the very drug
companies they are supposed to be regulating. During the hearings,
when Coleen Boyle of the CDC was asked if she thought there was
anything wrong with such a conflict she was literally speechless.
Wayne L. Pines your behavior is a text book example of what
Congressman Burton and tens of thousands of parents disdain.
As a former employee of the FDA you use your clout to influence what
should be a scientifically sound, reasonable and objective decision
making process. But even with all of your industry's money and
consultants and PR firms and communication experts and doctors on
payrolls you are still missing one key ingredient - the truth. The
truth can't be bought, spun, manipulated, or turned into a sound
bite. Parents know the truth when they watch their children become
ill, disabled and die. So despite your supreme efforts to sell more
vaccines, we will not allow some greedy industry to decide what is
safe and to dictate to us what should be put into our children's
bodies.
Wayne L. Pines go back to your "medical marketing research agency"
and your "communications consulting firm," shut up, and leave our
children alone.
Sincerely,
Michael Horwin Father of Alexander - a vaccine injured child who
passed away at the age of 2 ½ years old
Dr Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, was
interviewed. She says many significant things, but note this in particular
as the core of it:
"It used to be that drug companies simply gave grants to academic medical
centres for the use of their clinical researchers to do a study and that
was it. It was at arm's length. The researcher did a study and he or she
published the results, whatever those results would be.
Now, it's very, very different. The drug companies increasingly design the
studies. They keep the data. They don't even let the researchers see the
data. They analyse the data. They decide whether they're going to even
publish the data at the end of it. They sign contracts with researchers and
with academic medical centres saying that they don't get to publish their
work unless they get permission from the drug company.
So, you can see that the distortion starts even before publication. It
starts in determining what's going to be published and what isn't going to
be published. This is no longer arm's length. It's treating the researchers
and the academic medical centres as though they were hired guns or
technicians or something. They just do the work. And the drug company will
decide what the data show, what the conclusions are and whether it will
even be published."
Financial Support to the Immunization Action Coalition
Deborah L. Wexler, MD
Executive Director
Immunization Action Coalition
**publisher of NEEDLE TIPS, VACCINATE ADULTS! and IAC EXPRESS**
1573 Selby Avenue, Suite 234
St. Paul, MN 55104
Phone: (651) 647-9009
Fax: (651) 647-9131
E-mail: deborah@immunize.org
http://www.immunize.org/
IAC EXPRESS: http://www.immunize.org/express/
-------------------------------------------------------------
Groups That Provide Financial Support to the Immunization Action
Coalition in 1999
During 1999 the following groups provided funds to IAC:
Government:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Private Sources:
Approximately two thousand private individuals
Professional Organizations:
American Pharmaceutical Association
Corporations:
Chiron Corporation
GlaxoWellcome
Merck & Co.
Nabi
North American Vaccine
Pasteur Merieux Connaught
SmithKline Beecham
Wyeth Lederle Vaccines
The New England Journal of Medicine has a policy of
disclosing authors' conflicts of interest, but sometimes
the conflicts are too long to print! Here are the
conflicts for just one article in the current issue
where the authors are all academics.
Supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Keller has served as a consultant
to or received honorariums from Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest
Laboratories/Parke-Davis, Wyeth - Ayerst, Merck, Janssen, Eli Lilly,
Organon, and Pharmacia - Upjohn. He has received research grants from
Wyeth - Ayerst, SmithKline Beecham, Upjohn, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Merck, Forest Laboratories, Zeneca, and Organon. He has served
on the advisory board of Wyeth - Ayerst, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories/Parke-Davis, Organon, SmithKline Beecham,
Merck, Janssen, Mitsubishi Pharmaceuticals, Zeneca, Scirex, and Otsuka.
Dr. Klein has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Dunner
has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers Squibb, SmithKline Beecham,
Glaxo Wellcome, and Eli Lilly. He has received research grants from
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham,
Forest Laboratories, Glaxo Wellcome, and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has received
speaker's honorariums from Bristol-Myers Squibb, SmithKline Beecham,
Glaxo Wellcome, Eli Lilly, Organon, and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr. Gelenberg
has received grants and research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Organon, Pfizer, Lilly Research Laboratories, Janssen, Merck Sharp
Dohme, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth - Ayerst, Hoechst Marion Roussel, and
Forest Laboratories. He has been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored
by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham, Janssen, Lilly,
Forest Laboratories, and Parke-Davis. He is a stockholder or has other
ownership interest in Pfizer, Warner-Lambert, and Eli Lilly. He has
served as a consultant to Eli Lilly, Scios, Forest Laboratories,
Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Janus Pharmaceuticals, Best Practice, and
Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Markowitz has received speaker's honorariums
from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Organon, and
Pfizer. Dr. Nemeroff has been a consultant to or received honorariums
from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories,
Janssen, Eli Lilly, Merck, Mitsubishi, Neurocrine Biosciences, Organon,
Otsuka, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, Sanofi, SmithKline Beecham, Solvay,
and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has received research support from Abbott,
AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories, Janssen, Eli
Lilly, Organon, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham, Solvay,
and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr. Russell has been a consultant to or received
honorariums from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, Eli Lilly,
Pfizer, and Quintiles. He has received research support from Abbott,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, Pharmacia - Upjohn,
Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth - Ayerst, Shire, and Quintiles. Dr.
Thase has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly,
Forest Laboratories, Glaxo Wellcome/Cerenex Pharmaceuticals, Merck,
Organon, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has received
grant and research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lipha
Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Organon, Pharmacia - Upjohn, and Wyeth - Ayerst.
He has been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored by Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Glaxo Wellcome/Cerenex
Pharmaceuticals, Organon, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn,
SmithKline Beecham, Solvay, and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr. Trivedi has received
research grants from Abbott, Akzo (Organon), Bayer, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Glaxo Wellcome, Janssen, Johnson
& Johnson, MeadJohnson, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, Solvay,
and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored
by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories, Pharmacia - Upjohn,
Solvay, and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr. Zajecka has received grants and research
support from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Wellcome,
Organon, Otsuka America, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, and
Sanofi Research. He has served as a consultant to or has served on the
advisory board of Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly. He has
been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored by Abbott, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Eli Lilly, Pfizer/Roerig, SmithKline Beecham, Upjohn, and Wyeth
- Ayerst. Dr. Blalock has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers
Squibb. Dr. DeBattista has been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored
by Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Glaxo
Wellcome, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Scios, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth -
Ayerst, and Organon. He has received grants and research support from
Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Glaxo
Wellcome, Pfizer, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia
and Depression, Pharmacia - Upjohn, PharmaPrint/ABA, SmithKline Beecham,
and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Wellcome, and PharmaPrint. Dr. Fawcett has
received grants and research support from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Glaxo, Eli Lilly, Organon, Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth - Ayerst,
and Zeneca. He has served as a consultant to Abbott, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Eli Lilly, EM Industries, Forest Laboratories, Glaxo Wellcome,
Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, and SmithKline Beecham. He has been a member
of speakers' bureaus sponsored by Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli
Lilly, Pfizer/Roerig, Pharmacia - Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham, and Wyeth
- Ayerst. Dr. Hirschfeld has received grants and research support from
Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Organon, and Pfizer. He has served as a
consultant to or on the advisory board of Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Glaxo Wellcome, Forest Laboratories, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, SmithKline
Beecham, Janssen, Organon, Parke-Davis, and Pharmacia - Upjohn. Dr.
Kocsis has had research contracts with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer,
Forest Laboratories, Eli Lilly, and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has received
speaker's honorariums from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories,
and Eli Lilly. He owns stock in Pfizer and Forest Laboratories. Dr.
Kornstein has received research grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Wellcome, Forest Laboratories, Mitsubishi
Pharmaceuticals, and Biovail. She has served as a consultant to
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Pharmacia - Upjohn. She has
received honorariums from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Glaxo
Wellcome. Dr. Ninan has received grants and research support from
Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Organon,
Pharmacia - Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham, and Solvay. He has served as a
consultant to Pfizer, TAPPharma, and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has been a
member of speakers' bureaus sponsored by Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Organon, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia
- Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham, Solvay, Janssen, and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr.
Rothbaum has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.
She has been a member of the advisory board of and a speakers' bureau
sponsored by Pfizer. Dr. Rush has received grants and research support
from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cyberonics, Eli Lilly, Forest
Laboratories/Parke-Davis, Glaxo Wellcome, Janssen, Novartis, Organon,
Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, SmithKline Beecham, Wyeth - Ayerst, and
Zeneca. He has served as a consultant to Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Cyberonics, Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories/Parke-Davis, Glaxo Wellcome,
Janssen, Merck, Organon, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn, and Wyeth - Ayerst.
He has been a member of speakers' bureaus sponsored by Abbott,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cyberonics, Eli Lilly, Forest
Laboratories/Parke-Davis, Glaxo Wellcome, Organon, Pfizer, Pharmacia -
Upjohn, and Wyeth - Ayerst. Dr. Schatzberg has served as a consultant to
or received honorariums from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Corcept
Therapeutics, Forest Laboratories, Janssen, Eli Lilly, Merck, Mitsubishi
Pharmaceuticals, Organon, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia - Upjohn,
Sanofi, Scirex, SmithKline Beecham, Solvay, and Wyeth - Ayerst. He has
received research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and
SmithKline Beecham. He has equity ownership in Corcept, Merck, Pfizer,
and Scirex.
When Dr. Arthur Lavin's young patients turn 15 months
old, he sits down with their parents and talks about
chickenpox.
The Beachwood pediatrician explains that a vaccine to
prevent the itchy, scabby childhood disease has been
available since 1995. He tells them that the American
Academy of Pediatrics and a federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee want
all children to have the vaccine.
Then he lets the parents decide whether their child
should have it.
"What I tell the parents is, generally speaking, the
child is probably going to be just fine without the
vaccine, and they'll probably be just fine with the
vaccine," Lavin says.
By next year, Lavin might not have to explain and
parents might not have to decide. Legislation working
its way through the General Assembly would require all
Ohio children 12 or younger who have not had
chickenpox
Backers of the legislation say chickenpox is
deceptively dangerous. They cite 5-year-old CDC
estimates that 4 million cases of chickenpox break out
in the United States each year, that as many as 100
people die after contracting the highly contagious
disease -- about half of them children -- and that
thousands more are hospitalized with complications.
Still, Lavin says, "In childhood, there's no question
that the vast majority of chickenpox cases are
innocent -- cause no harm at all."
Lavin describes himself as a mainstream doctor, active
in the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of
Pediatrics and a founder of the Cuyahoga County
Immunization Registry, a computerized system that will
track the vaccination history of every child in the
county.
"Nearly all immunizations are overwhelmingly
beneficial," he says, such as the vaccines against
diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough that all babies
get. "But I don't look at immunizations as all equal."
Since the chickenpox vaccine came on the market in
1995,
Lavin has observed a trend that troubles him: "Over
the last five years," he says, "there's been a greater
and greater move toward redefining chickenpox as a
dangerous disease."
Merck is sole maker
The only vaccine against chickenpox -- or varicella
zoster virus, in medical terms -- is made by Merck &
Co. Inc. of Whitehouse Station, N.J. More than 20
million doses of the vaccine, called Varivax, have
been given since it won U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approval in 1995, the CDC says.
In Ohio, a public relations campaign to support
mandatory chickenpox vaccination got under way in
Columbus earlier this year, around the time the bill
was introduced in the state Senate. The names of
several professional groups concerned about child
health issues, including the American Academy of
Pediatrics, were associated with the campaign. What
wasn't evident, however, was that the money to pay for
that effort came indirectly from Merck.
Merck, the nation's largest pharmaceutical company,
reported more than $32 billion in sales last year. Its
lineup of popular drugs includes the pain reliever
Vioxx, the asthma drug Singulair and the baldness
treatment Propecia.
Compared with those profitable products, said Merck
spokeswoman Isabelle Claxton, the company's vaccine
business "is literally a blip on our financial
landscape. It's a very small piece of the franchise.
It's worth less to the company than some of our single
medicines."
Vaccines and related preventive products, including
Varivax, accounted for $860 million of Merck's sales
last year. By comparison, Vioxx sales alone could top
$1 billion this year.
But Varivax and those bigger-name products do have
something in common: All have gone on the market since
1995. And according to an analysis by Best Practices
LLC, a North Carolina business consulting firm,
products introduced in the past five years account for
22 percent of worldwide sales in Merck's human health
division.
Bringing new products to market runs up huge research
and development costs that need to be recovered. Merck
spent more than $2 billion on R&D last year.
To help assure a product's success among doctors and
consumers, the Best Practices study says, drug
companies have modified their marketing strategies to
take advantage of the influence of "thought leaders"
in health and medicine.
Thought leaders include patient advocacy groups with
names the public recognizes: the American Heart
Association and the National Institutes of Health, for
example. These groups promote patients' interests and
enjoy great credibility among consumers, says Best
Practices manager David Wang, who led his company's
study of successful product launches by the drug
industry.
The way it works, Wang says, is that a drug company
approaches patient advocacy groups with results of
clinical studies showing the effectiveness of its new
product. Working in collaboration with the drug
companies, he says, these advocacy groups do not
endorse the product but concentrate their efforts on
educating the public about the condition the product
helps.
In this way, the drug companies "really use them
almost like a third-party advocate for their new
products," Wang says.
Creating a coalition
The Chicago-based American Academy of Pediatrics has
taken the lead nationally in advocating the chickenpox
vaccine for children. The academy and the CDC's
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices both have
urged states to require the vaccine before a child is
admitted to day care or school.
Columbus public relations executive Chan Cochran says
he met in January with lobbyists for Merck and the
Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to
talk about promoting the chickenpox vaccine.
At about the same time, Children's Hospital of
Columbus asked Merck for a $40,000 educational grant
to promote childhood health and immunization issues.
Merck approved the grant, and Children's hired
Cochran's firm to produce 2,000 copies of a brochure
endorsing the mandatory immunization of Ohio children
against chickenpox. Money from the Merck grant covered
the cost of the brochures, the hospital says.
But before the brochures were printed, Cochran says,
he suggested enlisting the support of other groups
interested in children's health issues.
"It wasn't going to go anyplace until there were some
other partners involved," Cochran said.
He added the names of the Ohio chapter of the
Children's Defense Fund, the Association of Ohio
Children's Hospitals and the Association of Ohio
Health Commissioners to the brochure and called the
group the Ohio Varicella Vaccine Coalition.
"Chan called me and said they're interested in
dropping a bill in," said Jerome Friedman, a lobbyist
for the Association of Ohio Children's Hospitals. "We
talked about the potential for progress of such a bill
in an election year and a short (legislative) session
and such."
Cochran described the vaccine coalition as "sort of a
loose-knit group of supporters of the issue."
"The only reason the word 'coalition' ever came up was
that there came to be the need to put something on the
brochure as to where it had come from," he said.
PAC contributions
Some of the coalition's brochures wound up in the
office of Sen. Bruce Johnson, R-Westerville, who
introduced the chickenpox vaccine bill Feb. 15 in the
Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee.
Johnson says he was unaware that Merck money had paid
for the brochures, but he sees no problem with that.
"This legislation is about protecting children from
varicella, from getting what is a communicable disease
that causes death, that can be prevented," he said.
But in addition to funding the grant that paid for the
brochures, Merck money is in the background of the
Ohio chickenpox debate in another way.
In November, Merck's employee-funded political action
committee made campaign contributions totaling $2,150
to nine Ohio legislators, according to the Ohio
secretary of state's office. Among them are four
members of the Republican majority on the Senate
Health, Retirement and Aging Committee, including
Johnson. That committee's vote on the vaccine bill
this year will determine whether it goes before the
full Senate.
Other recipients included the House speaker pro
tempore and the House majority whip, both Republicans,
as well as the Ohio House GOP Caucus. Republicans
control both houses of the Ohio General Assembly.
"A decision to support a candidate through the PAC is
based on a general range of criteria, including the
individual's overall position on broad policy issues
such as health-care reform, intellectual property
protection, environmental law and regulatory reform,"
Merck spokeswoman Claxton said in a prepared
statement.
"Decisions are not based on specific legislative
issues."
Johnson said he was unaware of the Merck
contributions.
"I don't track who makes contributions," he said. "I
tend not to care."
He said Merck lobbyists began contacting him about the
issue "some time ago." Merck lobbyist Robert Kelley
said he didn't remember when discussions began, and he
referred all other questions to Claxton.
Claxton could not provide a figure on how much the
company has spent on direct lobbying of Ohio
legislators in support of the vaccine bill. She said
that in the 22 states where vaccine bills have been
passed, Merck spent an average of less than $10,000 on
lobbying.
"It is not that the company is not interested in
promoting legislation as appropriate," she said. "But
I think it would be misleading to say that it's
Merck's involvement that makes or breaks these
legislative decisions."
Genuine concern
Dr. Christopher Rizzo, president-elect of the Ohio
chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is a
strong supporter of the chickenpox vaccine
legislation.
He believes people have been lulled into thinking
chickenpox is a routine disease even though it
sometimes can become a serious problem.
Rizzo, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Medical
Center of Akron, testified in favor of the bill before
Johnson's committee last month on behalf of the Ohio
Varicella Vaccine Coalition, the group whose name
appears on the brochures that were paid for with money
from Merck.
But Rizzo also works with the Ohio Network on
Immunization Information, another recently formed
group of pro-vaccine health professionals.
The network's goal is to present scientific, objective
information showing that vaccines are safe, effective
and beneficial, said Ann Whitlach, executive director
of the Ohio Nurses Association, one of the groups that
formed the network. To that end, the network will not
use data from studies that were paid for by parties
with commercial interests, she said, and will not ask
for or accept money from drug companies.
"We know, bottom line, that the public will believe it
more," Whitlach said.
Rizzo says Merck's involvement with the Ohio Varicella
Vaccine Coalition may raise concerns about
appearances, but it does not affect how strongly he
feels about the vaccine issue.
"Having a pharmaceutical manufacturer involved gives
the perception of a conflict of interest, even though
all of us who are in the coalition, certainly other
than Merck, feel very strongly that this is in the
interest of children, it's in the interest of the
community and in the interest of public health," Rizzo
said.
Low risk cited
Lavin, the Beachwood pediatrician, says he doesn't
doubt that genuine concern for public health is what
led the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC to
call for mandatory chickenpox inoculations.
If the goal is to save the one child in every
40,000-plus who dies after getting chickenpox, he
says, then universal immunization is the only way to
achieve that.
"Those deaths are tragic, and I'm 100 percent behind
preventing them," Lavin said. "It's a terrible tragedy
to have a childhood death."
Still, he says, "My perspective is as a pediatrician
looking into the eyes of a particular child. And even
though there are 40 to 60 (child) deaths a year, that
translates into a phenomenally low chance of death, or
even harm, from a natural case of chickenpox in
childhood."
In fact, he says, "odds are very great that that
(vaccinated) child will have gained very little
benefit from having chickenpox prevented."
Like pediatricians everywhere, Lavin has received his
share of "Dear Doctor" promotional kits from Merck
pointing out the overlooked dangers of chickenpox. But
he's been a tough sell.
"How dread a disease is, is a complex call," he said,
noting that "there's been quite a lot of money spent
on advertising and promotion" of the vaccine.
"To try to change the perception in the eyes of the
practicing pediatrician -- is that a right thing to
do?"
Roger Mezger can be reached at 330-996-3547 or
rmezger@thebeaconjournal.com
