Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Gerberding, Former CDC Director Now Heads Merck's Vaccine Division

This really bothers me, when a person who is RESPONSIBLE to oversee vaccine safety for the public later goes to work for a VACCINE MANUFACTURER. It makes me wonder if any of her decisions were made thinking about her next job.

From the American Chronicle:

Julie Louise Gerberding MD MPH, former director of the Centers for Disease Control has been named the president of Merck Vaccines. While certainly no surprise, I am once again astounded at the audacity of the vaccine manufacturers and our government. Mrs. Gerberding will no doubt do quite well in her new position since she has had quite a bit of experience selling both vaccines and the notion that they are beneficial to society, in her previous position as one of the top government health officials in America. This is just another example of how closely related and intertwined our government is with industry.

Those in the natural health and "anti-vaccine" communities have witnessed this unseemly and disgusting relationship between government and industry for years. Consider the Homeland Security Act that sureptitiously had a rider slid into it at the last possible minute prior to the vote that basically absolved Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals from any and all liability regarding the controversial mercury containing vaccine preservative, Thimerosal. Consider the SARS, Avian and Swine flu scares that have made both Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defence and Dick Cheney, former VP of the U.S. very rich men.These scares caused our government to purchace and push TamiFlu, a money making dream come true for these two former executives with the manufacturer of this drug.

We´ve witnessed the revolving door policy between government and business between the FDA and pharmaceutical companies as well as Monsanto. Bring someone from industry into the government regulating division that´s in need, get the vote or approval desired, then return said official to the private sector again, to reap the benefits. We´ve seen this again and again. This recent news is simply another example in a long line of government/industry collusion.

read more here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post. I completely agree. The profit-driven relationship between Congress and pharmaceutical companies is hardly a secret. Pharmaceuticals were the top lobbyists last year--even above oil.