Documents Show Merck Paid This Popular Website $3.5 Million Dollars for Promoting Vaccines
By Jeffry John Aufderheide
January 12, 2013
By Jeffry John Aufderheide
January 12, 2013
Have you ever wondered how some websites come to promote vaccines? Well, here’s the answer: Pharmaceutical companies pay enormous amounts of money for websites to promote vaccines.
The influence is subtle for the unsuspecting parent – especially on popular websites such as WebMD.
According to documents located on Merck’s website, at least $3,592,850 dollars was paid to Medscape LLC, a subsidiary of WebMD Health, from 2008 through 2012. If you factor in other cancer programs promoted on WebMD by Merck, the total figure comes to $3,982,850. The amount is likely higher as one of the documents on the website is unavailable. [1]
Last year I wrote about doctors getting paid over $18,810,495.52 by Merck to promote their vaccines. You might notice a common theme: pharmaceutical companies pay huge sums of money to buy influence. WebMD is no exception. [2]
Until recently, the actual amounts have been anyone’s guess – and I think you will agree that 3.5 million dollars is a significant amount.
WHAT DID MERCK’S MONEY BUY?
If we take a look at the WebMD website, you will notice a web page called Lifetime of Vaccines. It is sponsored by Merck. [3]Waiting for you is a video message by Julie Gerberding, former head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). She promotes the reasons why we should get vaccinated. Before you listen to her message, you should know she lobbied to get the dangerous Gardasil vaccine (also a Merck product) onto the vaccine schedule. She is also the current president of the Vaccine Division at Merck Pharmaceuticals.
Other sections of the website downplay any adverse reactions to vaccines or what is in the vaccines. For example, Merck softens the list of toxic ingredients in vaccines, listing only aluminum, mercury/thimerosal, antibiotics and formaldehyde, attributing to each a single sentence description. [4]
Not only do they downplay the toxicity of the ingredients, they also forget to mention the many other vaccine ingredients. What do I mean?
For starters, a very small sample of vaccine ingredients includes:
- Aluminum Hydroxide (Heavy Metal)
- Egg Protein
- Formaldehyde
- Bovine Calf Serum
- Thimerosal (Heavy Metal)
- Calf Skin
- Aborted Fetal Tissue (Human Diploid Tissue)
- Monkey Kidney Tissue
- Mouse Brain
I should point out the amount of money WebMD was paid is just a small piece of the total pie that Merck and other pharmaceutical companies have funded to websites to promote vaccines. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act (PPSA) and other legislation now requires pharmaceutical companies to make this information available to the public by 2013.
CONCLUSION
The pharmaceutical company pockets run deep. When analyzed, you can see how much influence their money can buy.
Parents want strong children and honest answers. Do you really think Merck invested all of this money to educate you about vaccines or to sell their product? I will leave you to be the judge of that important question.
Lastly, as new documents become available, my hope is that parents will start to see how Big Pharma runs their operations: spending their cash to buy influence. Maybe vaccine safety does have a price tag.
Amounts Paid to MedScape, LLC (1)
| Company | Program / Project Description | Amount | Date |
| Medscape, LLC | Medscape/ Nemours Children Hospital: Rotavirus Lecture | 154,000 | 9/17/2008 |
| Medscape, LLC | Medscape Spotlight, Case and Clinical Recap: Vaccines | 300,000 | 3/16/2009 |
| Medscape, LLC | Oncology: Web Program | 60,000 | 3/10/2009 |
| Medscape, LLC | Web Program and Publication: Rotavirus | 135,000 | 7/1/2009 |
| Medscape, LLC | Roundtable Web Program | 35,000 | 7/1/2009 |
| Medscape, LLC | Web Program: Pediatric Immunization | 219,450 | 8/18/2010 |
| Medscape, LLC | Web Program: Pediatric Immunization | 202,000 | 8/18/2010 |
| Medscape, LLC | Web Program: Rotavirus | 187,000 | 9/28/2010 |
| Medscape, LLC | Adult Immunization Web Program | 235,000.00 | 5/2/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Rotavirus Web Program | 220,000.00 | 5/2/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Adult Immunization Web Program | 180,000.00 | 5/2/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Oncology Web Program | 80,000.00 | 5/2/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Oncology Web Program | 150,000.00 | 5/2/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Rotavirus Web Program | 203,000.00 | 5/18/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Rotavirus Web Program | 147,000.00 | 6/14/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | 2011 ASH Multiple Myeloma Web Programs | 100,000.00 | 7/13/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | 2011 AAP HPV Symposium | 368,900.00 | 10/28/2011 |
| Medscape, LLC | Rotavirus Web Programs | 174,000.00 | 3/5/2012 |
| Medscape, LLC | Adult Immunization Web Program | 201,000.00 | 4/30/2012 |
| Medscape, LLC | Adult Immunization Web Program | 201,000.00 | 4/30/2012 |
| Medscape, LLC | Immunization Web Program | 254,500.00 | 4/30/2012 |
| Medscape, LLC | Rotavirus Web Programs | 176,000.00 | 5/30/2012 |
| TOTAL | $3,982,850.00 |
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