While I certainly agree that pharmaceutical companies have acted aggressively,
unethically and even illegally (witness the recent Pfizer settlement)
regarding the sale and promotion of drugs, I just don’t see where this applies
to vaccines. If we’re going to distrust vaccine makers, where is the evidence
that they’ve behaved badly here. Shouldn’t there be at least one example of
malfeasance that we can point to before we throw vaccine makers under the bus.

I know this comes off as Pollyanish. But I worked with a pharmaceutical
company for 16 years during the development of our vaccine and thought they
were great: caring, careful, rigorous, and above board.

Best for the holidays,
Paul

Paul Offit is a Pediatrician and Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia