How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?

(CBS)  For years some parents and scientists have raised concerns about vaccine safety, including a possible link to autism and ADD. Many independent experts have sided with government officials and other scientists who say there's no possible connection. But how "independent" are they? CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson shares here's what she found.

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They're some of the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety: the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit.

But CBS News has found these three have something more in common - strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend.

The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters. The totals are kept secret, but public documents reveal bits and pieces.

A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which makes $2 billion a year in sales.

A $433,000 contribution from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's HPV vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales.

Another top donor: Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new five-in-one combo shot just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last month.

Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much.

A spokesman told CBS News: "There are simply no conflicts to be unearthed." But guess who's listed as the group's treasurers? Officials from Wyeth and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients.

Then there's Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely-quoted defender of vaccine safety.

He's gone so far as to say babies can tolerate "10,000 vaccines at once."

This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview: "I'm the chief of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at Penn's medical school," he said.

Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject but like others in this CBS News investigation, he has strong industry ties. In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider.

Offit holds in a $1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck. He holds the patent on an anti-diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merck, Rotateq, which has prevented thousands of hospitalizations.

And future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash. Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits? Unknown.

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Read more about this story at Couric & Co. Blog

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There's nothing illegal about the financial relationships, but to critics, they pose a serious risk for conflicts of interest. As one member of Congress put it, money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of those who hold themselves out to be "independent."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two and Dr. Offit would not agree to interviews, but all told us they're up front about the money they receive, and it doesn't sway their opinions.

Today's immunization schedule now calls for kids to get 55 doses of vaccines by age 6.

Ideally, it makes for a healthier society. But critics worry that industry ties could impact the advice given to the public about all those vaccines.

[kodawe]

Thank you Sharyl Attkisson and CBS. I am the parent of an autistic child and I witnessed this child change the day he recieved a vaccination, never to be the same again. I recently had someone say that I am emotioanlly charged over this issue. Compassion, emotionally charged, upset at words like, "She cannot live with her son's condition", and this is exactly what drives us. You say the very words that make us fight this fight! You are correct about me being emotionally charge on this subject. We get emotionally charged when people who do not know us or our child and have not walked in our shoes and witnessed what we saw with our own eyes; disregard what we are saying with such uncompassionate arrogance.

I saw my child, who was perfectly functioning change the day he was injected with a vaccination that I was told he needed in order to be protected. I was all for it, great, protecting my child. Yet, when I witnessed a change in his personality I am told that I am a wacko for saying this. I am told that I don't know what I am talking about. I am told this by people that have never seen my child, people that did not know him before vaccinations and after. Yet, the people that were around my child his entire life saw this change. They carried him around for hours after the injection trying to consol his unstoppable crying. They sat up with him while he could not sleep. These are family and friends who knew him and saw this change.

This is when we get emotionally charge over this. I am glad your child received a vaccination and did not see any adverse reactions whatsoever. That is a beautiful thing. I only, hope that these same parents had enough compassion and caring in their hearts to worry about my child without brushing it off as a coincidence. This is what I am told, it is just a coincidence. These people tell me I am just looking for something to blame. They never think that blame is not really the goal. If we as parents of these children have something tangible, we actually have something we can work towards recovering from.

Yet I am told, by people in life and on the internet that I hate my child for whom he is. This is the farthest from the truth. I am closer to my child than most, due to this. I spend more time with my child, working with his issues than most people could even imagine. While everyone else is going about life, playing sports and enjoying the world, our world is full of medical treatments, supplement, medications and therapies.

So... Yes I am emotionally charged. This is my life and my child's life. While most of the people that tell me vaccinations had nothing to do with my child's issues and that even though I saw him change just hours after receiving this vaccination, after disregarding anything I have to say, they go home to their perfectly functioning child.

How would you feel if your child was in hit by a car in front of your own eyes and he ended with brain damage, and the people around you told you, "Yes he was hit by a car, but it is just a coincidence that he has brain damage now? We understand you hate your child for what he is, but you cannot blame that on the accident." This is the reality that we face when we speak with people such as you. Emotionally charged? You betcha!

Keep reporting and telling the truth. It is refreashing to see mainstream media take this issue to heart and report on it in an unbias way. Thank you!

[vv5012]

Thank you, CBS and Sharyl Attkisson for your honest reporting!
I don't believe for a minute that the money they receive doesn't sway their opinions (Dr. Offit, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Every Child by Two). I consider it a crime when parents are assured that vaccines are safe--when it is absolutely not true. Anyone who has an Internet connection can go to the VAERS database and see thousands of reports of adverse reactions after vaccinations, including death in some cases.
Pediatricians, insurance companies, government authorities, and the mainstream media (in most cases) all tell parents that vaccines are safe and effective and that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. Parents are not told about the risks of vaccination, and even when there is an adverse reaction, they are usually told that it was not related to the vaccine.
If a person is going to have surgery or some medical procedure, that person is told about possible risks or complications. In fact it is legally required. Vaccines are an exception to the established principle of informed consent. Parents are NOT informed. They are told that adverse reactions are "rare" and that the "benefits outweigh the risks." I wonder how many are told that there is no liability on the part of either the doctor or the vaccine manufacturer.
When my brother got a flu shot, he could not use his arm for several days. He went back to the clinic or wherever it was he got the shot to ask why he was unable to use his arm, and he was immediately told that it had nothing to do with the shot.

[DPKKMCC]

Thanks for reporting this! We think there should more independent journalism/research about vaccination.
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[capricorn45]

IgnoredaVax vaccine for pediatricians

http://www.facebook.com/editalbum.php?aid=105301&add=1&id=69667273997&htmlup=1#!/video/video.php?v=1705699405815&oid=60559646364&comments

[capricorn45]

IgnoredaVax vaccine for pediatricians

http://www.facebook.com/editalbum.php?aid=105301&add=1&id=69667273997&htmlup=1#!/video/video.php?v=1705699405815&oid=60559646364&comments

[capricorn45]

In reply to Amy Pisani: spare us the corcodile tears. Vaccination is child abuse and an organised criminal enterprise dressed up as disease prevention. As Dr Herbert Shelton once pointed out, "Belief in vaccination is a form of delusional insanity."

Referring to so-called health professionals who inject defenseless children with poisonous vaccine injections, Dr Shelton also said:

"They are as cold-blooded as any class of criminals on the whole earth. Indeed, I know of no other class of criminals who live by crippling, maiming and killing babies and children."

The cigarette manufaturers had their day in court for misleading the public concerning the health risks of cigarette smoking. One can only hope that the vaccine manufacturers and vaccine pushers will be held accountable for defrauding the public and for their crimes against children and against humankind, in the not too distant future, and that they will be put behind bars, to keep the rest of us safe from their predations.

[cdilly10]

It's too bad the rest of society has to co-exist with the likes of you and Dr. Shelton, because you're truly a risk to the rest of us, and in particular our children. In a perfect world we could put you and all the rest of the ill-informed people out there against vaccination on the same island. You and your children could co-exist happily for a little while but then the polio would come back, and then the Haemophilus influenzae type B and pneumococcal meningitis. That's just for starters. It might take a little longer but then pertussis would take root and you'd have to sit by idly while your child slowly suffocates before your very eyes. You want to talk about child abuse? Try that.

My son is 2 months old. Too young to be vaccinated against pertussis and because of people like you he's at risk of getting a disease for which he cannot be protected. It's a crime and I make sure he goes to a pediatrician and a day-care that do not accept unvaccinated children, its the best thing a conscientious parent can do to protect his beloved child from folks like you.

Truly, if you're such an advocate for anti-vaccination you people should start colonies and cohabitate with each other so you don't have to be subjected to the "cruelty" of vaccination. Actually they've started to do that in california where some school districts report as high as 70% of children are now unvaccinated. They're now having the worst pertussis outbreak in 40 years. You think that is a coincidence? You should go join them and save your child from the rest of us monsters that want to harm your innocent child with life-saving vaccination. I defy you, put your money where your mouth is, enroll your defenseless child there to protect him or her. And then when the whooping cough starts and the 2 constant minutes of coughing begin without a single inhalation and your child is purple in the face you can thank your lucky stars you didn't risk getting that shot on account of the fact that Jenny McCarthy and a bunch of paraoid anti-government nutjobs told you the vaccine was poison. If your child survives the pertussis, which he or she probably will (we'll call it a character building experience), then you'll have to watch as the measles sweeps through your community. That's particularly contagious and although its a relatively rare complication, you might be lucky enough for your child to get SSPE a progressive and ultimately fatal neurological complication of the infection. Even though your child's life-expectancy will now been reduced to 3 years which will include a slow deterioration of brain function leading to personality changes seizures, coma and death.... you can feel good that at least you did not abuse your child with a vaccination.

The unfortunate thing in all of this is that you are of course free to do as you wish, but in this case you will be harming those around you. I don't care one bit what you do with you and your family. But in this case, you are imposing the rules of Darwin on all of us. My family and I are not just innocent by-standers, we're directly in harms way. Just like the 10 children who have now died in California during this Pertussis outbreak. You really ought to reevaluate the relative risk of vaccination versus disease. If not for you then for your child's safety and for my child's safety and for future generations.

[terryw41]

This is in reply to cdilly10: "High" dose vitamin C cures polio and just about everything else too. IV C or better yet liposomal C which everyone has access to. Search Dr. Thomas Levy. The pharmaceutical "industry" is about profits, not health. That's pretty much how everything is now. The FDA used to work for "the people", it hasn't for a long time - the "industries" have taken it over, and that is the biggest risk to the rest of us, especially our children. We are all guinea pigs for profit now. Pick up the book Curing the Incurable. Stay on liposomal C and you won't get sick to begin with.

[everychildbytwo]

Every Child By Two provided written responses to this reporters questions and participated in a phone interview. Ask yourself why this reporter would state that we declined to participate in the interview? It seems that this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black - Sharyl Atkisson has reported falsely again and again on the vaccines causing harm story. When does a reporter cross the line into zealotry? The policy for ECBT's acceptance of funds is posted at the bottom of the following link http://www.ecbt.org/aboutecbt/
This policy is strictly adhered to in order to ensure that our programs maintain credibility. Most importantly, we never support the use of any particular vaccines - instead we educate the public about the diseases prevented by vaccines, choosing not to discuss the merits of one pharmaceutical product over another. In addition, this reporter is well aware that tax records are readily available for free on the internet for all non-profit organizations, we directed the reporter to that site to declare our funding amounts. Again, why would this reporter claim otherwise and deny such knowledge of the existence of tax records? Our organization is dedicated to saving the lives of children and we take this mission to heart. Amy Pisani, Executive Director, Every Child By Two

[STXAutism]

You also need to educate the public about the dangers of vaccines. Let me tell you something, whether you publicly admit it or not, your opinions are based on the money that you receive from the vaccine makers. And you can not tell me that does not sway your opinion. I have worked in the insurance industry for over 20 years and let me tell you, money can buy you whatever you request in a report. I see it! It is not my opinion, it is fact! I don't feel sorry for you after all that you have helped promote and not being completely truthful about the adverse effects of vaccines and in many cases, their limited positive affects. You need to come clean and start telling the truth. If vaccines were oh so safe, there would be no need for the vaccine injury fund. We are not just talking about a few kids having minor adverse effects. We are talking tens of thousands. Let's start allowing the vaccine manufacturers as well as the doctors who provide the vaccine injections start facing the legal consequences and see how safe vaccines are then.

Robert Hutchins

[Mindanoiha]

The director for the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has publically stated: "Norway is a small country and it is therefore difficult to find experts who do not have connections with the pharmaceutical industry".

Never was a truer word said. The question may nevertheless be asked: What is done by the Norwegian health authorities to tackle this problem?
Unfortunately the answer appears to be "Nothing".

[Sparky9999]

Bravo!!! Thank you for your candid honesty. There is too much greed in the world.

[theboodges]

Thank you CBS! Not only have you supported freedom of speech by allowing the NVIC/Mercola advertisement, you reported facts even though I am sure this will bring more pressure on you from vaccine interests to censor the news we see. THANK YOU for some independent news reporting!!!!