OC Register Inside Autism: Paul Offit Responds

Sam Miller of the OC Register Inside Autism blog (see their ad on the side bar) has a response to the CBS piece by Dr. Paul Offit, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia HERE.

Comments

[Kelli Ann Davis]

So, here's the latest *talking point* (it's been touted by a few individuals so far) in regards to Offit and his altruistic motivations surrounding his ACIP activities:

“That’s one of the examples of how he handled a conflict of interest. As part of the vaccine advisory committee, he was present at the votes for that–competitor’s–vaccine. He voted to add it to the schedule, even though that would likely mean less royalties for Dr. Offit. He later abstained from voting on the removal of that vaccine (RotaShield), because it would financially benefit him if the vaccine were removed from the schedule.”

My response on the OC Blog:

“He voted to add it to the schedule, even though that would likely mean less royalties for Dr. Offit.”

Wow. Now how would Paul Offit lose any royalties on a product that was still in development and not even on the market?? Pretty big *assumption* for him to count his chickens before they’re hatched, no?

Unless of course, it was pretty much a guaranteed *slam dunk* that his vaccine would be cleared for the schedule. Hmmmm….

So according to you, Paul pretty much had a done deal all lined up and he was abstaining from a *vote* because he didn’t want to be the recipient of royalties on a vaccine that hadn’t even been *OFFICIALLY* approved and wouldn’t be on the market for several more years?

I don’t know what’s scarier – the fact that Offit even sat on the ACIP Committee in the first place or the fact that he obviously felt his vaccine was *in the green years before it was finished* and he was excusing himself from voting on a *conflict* (his vaccine would benefit at the expense of removing Rotashield) that didn’t even exist at the time of the vote?