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DEC E M B ER 20, 2 0 1 7

How to Suppress Vaccine

Safety Concerns and Protect
Financial Interests — Part
One

World Mercury Project Targeted by the

AAP and IAC

By the World Mercury Project Team

American consumers, particularly parents, should be asking
some hard questions about why the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) and Immunization Action Coalition (IAC)
apparently have no interest in improving vaccine safety. In the
face of snowballing vaccine scandals—from fudged safety
trials that use other vaccines as placebos, to persistent use of
neurotoxic aluminum adjuvants, to the accelerated rollout of
unproven vaccines that may be causing more problems than
they solve—these and other vaccine advocacy organizations
are not only turning a blind eye but are actively circling the
wagons while beefing up public relations (PR) intended to
stifle discussion. These PR efforts are on revealing display in
an April 2017 IAC webinar on “Vaccines and the New
Administration” that unsurprisingly singles out the activities of
the World Mercury Project and its Chairman, Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. Expressing equal parts alarm and disdain, the
AAP rhetorically asks, “Vaccine safety: here we go again…?”

Due to the well-funded medical-pharmaceutical-media

apparatus that endlessly repeats the mantra that all vaccines
are safe for all people all the time, it is nearly impossible to
get a fair hearing for common-sense questions about vaccine
safety, no matter how urgent such questions may be. The
biases apparent in mainstream discussions about vaccine
safety have come into even sharper focus since the
changeover from one political administration to the next. In
February 2017, shortly after the inauguration, several hundred
national and state-based organizations rushed to sign a letter
lobbying President Trump to “redouble” efforts to drive up the
vaccination rate. The IAC and the AAP were two signatories of
that letter, which summarily dismissed concerns about
vaccine risks as “disproven.”

World Mercury Project on the radar

The April webinar and the slides presented by the AAP (Figure
1) give clear insights into the efforts under way to shut down
any questions regarding vaccine safety. Although the AAP also
briefly considered two other perceived threats to the vaccine
program—1) candidate Trump’s legitimate questioning of
vaccine safety and timing and 2) citizen pressures on Congress
to hold hearings on vaccines—Kennedy and World Mercury
Project garnered fully one third (3/9) of the AAP’s slides. The
three slides took note of the following events:

The January meeting between Kennedy and President-elect

Trump to discuss a possible Commission for vaccine safety
and scientific integrity;
The February 15 press conference convened by Kennedy
and actor Robert De Niro at the National Press Club; and
The March 31 “Revolution for Truth” rally in Washington,
DC, sponsored by World Mercury Project and four other
organizations.

FIGURE 1. April 2017 IAC Webinar: AAP Presentation

In each instance, the AAP lobbyist, Patrick Johnson, used his
PowerPoint to undercut the impact of the events, first, by
downgrading the potential Commission from one focusing on
vaccine safety and scientific integrity to one supposedly
focusing “only” on autism; second, by describing the
congressional briefing that followed the February 15 press
conference as “sparsely attend” [sic]; and third, by stating that
the March rally had “very little press coverage.” Of course,
Johnson did not mention the powerful role of pharmaceutical
industry advertising dollars in shaping mainstream news and
disincentivizing true journalistic curiosity, nor was there a nod
to the influence of pharmaceutical dollars on congressional
(or AAP) priorities. (To put the pharmaceutical industry’s
financial impact in perspective, total pharmaceutical revenues
worldwide began exceeding one trillion dollars annually in
2014, with the U.S. pharmaceutical industry dominating the
global market.)

The AAP’s co-conspirators

In addition to the AAP, three other organizations contributed
content to the IAC webinar. All four entities profess to be
reliable sources of information on vaccines but share a
concerted PR focus that aims to head vaccine safety concerns
off at the pass. All of the organizations frame their aims in
terms of cementing vaccine infrastructure and funding. The
AAP’s three sister organizations are:

The 317 Coalition: The 317 Coalition derives its name from
Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act, which
authorizes federal purchases of vaccines. The 317
Coalition’s organizational members include vaccine
manufacturers. The Coalition’s “sole” focus is advocacy for
increased Section 317 funding. Federal vaccine purchases
currently depend on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for over
half of their funds, giving rise to Coalition worries about
what might happen with an ACA modification or repeal
(Figure 2). The 317 Coalition is staffed by Cornerstone
Government Affairs—a PR firm based in Washington, DC,
that specializes in “federal and state government relations”
and “strategic communications.” Mark Mioduski, one of
Cornerstone’s senior founding partners, presented
webinar content on behalf of the Coalition.
Every Child by Two (ECBT): ECBT works to “share [the]
value of vaccines with federal and state legislators” and
generate vaccine safety “talking points” (Figure 3). The
webinar presenter, Amy Pisani, is ECBT’s Executive
Director.
 The Adult Vaccine Access Coalition (AVAC): AVAC focuses
on “bringing necessary federal policy changes” to increase
adult vaccination rates, in particular. The webinar
presenter, Abby Bownas (employed by another
Washington, DC-based PR company called NVG LLC),
routinely lobbies policymakers in support of “legislative
and regulatory solutions” to get more adults to line up for
vaccines.

There are many overlapping connections between these (and

similar) organizations. For example, ECBT’s Amy Pisani serves
on the 317 Coalition’s six-member Steering Committee and on
Paul Offit’s Vaccine Education Center Advisory Board. Offit, in
turn, sits on the ECBT Board of Directors as well as the 317
Coalition Steering Committee. The IAC’s Executive Director
and Chief Strategy Officer are two of the remaining members
of the 317 Coalition Steering Committee.

FIGURE 2. April 2017 IAC Webinar: 317 Coalition Presentation

FIGURE 3. April 2017 IAC Webinar: ECBT Presentation

Going after “vaccine hesitancy”

Vaccine proponents have handily coined a new term to
describe virtually anyone who raises any questions about
vaccine safety (or effectiveness). The term—which contrasts
with the vaccine complacency that holds sway in public health
and medical circles—is vaccine hesitancy. A highly visible
vaccine hesitancy article published in Pediatrics in 2016
defined the term and sought to enhance health providers’
persuasive tactics against the growing pushback from worried
families.

The Pediatrics article paints vaccine-hesitant individuals with a

broad brush. They are, according to the authors, “a
heterogeneous group who hold varying degrees of indecision
about specific vaccines or about vaccinations in general,”
including individuals who “accept all vaccines but remain
concerned about them,” “refuse or delay some vaccines but
accept others,” or “refuse all vaccines.” The Pediatrics authors
express confidence in the ability of “targeted discussion
strategies” to vanquish most of these objections (particularly
because “vaccine discussions continue to occupy the media
and Internet”), but they also agree that “some families still will
not be persuaded to vaccinate,” even when a pediatrician
threatens a family with dismissal from their practice “as a last
resort.”

It is no coincidence that Pediatrics is the official journal of the

AAP, which does not think twice about using the journal to
push its party line on vaccination. The IAC, too, has got vaccine
hesitancy squarely in its sights. Its website conspicuously
features tools (including a role-playing video and PowerPoint
slide sets) intended to help health professionals deal with
recalcitrant parents. The IAC’s “save-the-date” newsletter
about the April 2017 webinar even promoted attendance by
stating that the webinar would discuss “encouragement of
vaccine hesitancy by some elected officials, including the
president.”

Perhaps the stellar reputation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in

fighting for underdogs is making it tougher for these vaccine
apologists to make a smear campaign stick.
That same IAC announcement also used “Robert Kennedy Jr.’s
claims about a new vaccine safety commission” as a sound
bite to spur webinar attendance and marshal the troops. Even
though there are other nonprofits that have long advocated
for a deeper look at vaccine safety, the disproportionate
attention to the relatively new-on-the-scene World Mercury
Project from the IAC, AAP and other members of the vaccine
juggernaut is telling. Perhaps the stellar reputation of Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr. in fighting for underdogs is making it tougher
for these vaccine apologists to make a smear campaign stick.
Regardless, members of the public should be asking
themselves where the true conflicts of interest lie.

In Part Two, World Mercury Project further explores the glaring

conflicts of interest that characterize the AAP and its colleague
organizations.

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