March 14, 2008

Pharma Insider?

An interesting comment on Dr. Gupta's blog (let's get you guys on the record already!):

I work for a drug company, pharma companies pay big money and lobby over many years to get their vaccines on the schedule, its the dirty truth.

The other truth is that vaccines are developed in separate silos from one another by different companies. They are not clinically tested as a given group -- in other words, where are the clinical studies that mimic the real world dosage schedule and I will start to believe the CDC's position that no harm is caused by vaccines.

Where is the statistical analysis of safety and side effects in the real world for combined dosing of vaccines? Drug companies use these points to sell the efficacy of their individual vaccines but, when combined as groups, no data has been shown to tell parents for sure that vaccines combined from different companies for different diseases will meet the safety threshold as a group given over sustained periods of
time in the first two years of life.

The vaccine discussion must continue because new vaccines are being lobbied everyday to be added to the CDC list of mandated vaccines. As parents we have an obligation
to educate ourselves and understand how vaccines get on the market. We are the voice of our children. If the scientists and clinicians can not answer our questions and have an honest debate over it, then we have nothing but a shell game going on.

There is no doubt that vaccines can save lives on an individual disease basis and prevent massive outbreaks of fatal disease. However, the CDC has an obligation to public safety and should force the drug companies to do the work to understand the interaction of vaccine dosing schedules, active and inert ingredients used in the manufacture of vaccines, and importantly answer supply chain questions (the recent heparin debate with ingredients sourced from China) should have made this issue crystal clear.

I do not want to hear that removal of thimerosal did not reverse autism rates, you can slice data to your advantage there. The fact is the number of vaccines given since thimerosal was removed has probably risen. Where is the data that charts the number of vaccines given under two years old against the number of autism cases? Where are our good scientific minds to think this through?

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