But doctors are still not being taught about serious adverse events related to HPV vaccine

The following was originally published in Sharyl Attkisson’s Substack.

In my new book Follow the $cience, I expose how our medical establishment is corrupted at nearly every level. One example I cite is from a popular medical reference book used by med students, doctors, and consumers published by the pharmaceutical company Merck.

The Merck Manual falsely stated that there were “no serious side effects reported” regarding its controversial cervical cancer HPV vaccine: Gardasil.

In reality, as I pointed out, Gardasil’s FDA-approved label lists dozens of reported adverse events from paralysis to death.

Now, apparently as a result of my reporting, Merck has quietly removed the false information from its Merck Manual.

It’s a victory for facts and accuracy, but of little consequence in the big picture.

That’s because the corrected version of Merck’s manual doesn’t include a stated correction or disclaimer that explains the removed information that was woefully wrong. And it doesn’t include accurate replacement language disclosing Gardasil’s actual side effects. 

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Some of the reported adverse events on the FDA-approved HPV vaccine label:

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The truth is, the example of false information that I cited in the medical school book is merely one of an estimated hundreds if not thousands of omissions and inaccuracies I believe I could identify if I took the time to comb through the entire reference.

It’s a scandal that an ordinary journalist can flag such egregious problems while medical professionals seem to not notice them or are overlooking them. 

The deletions by Merck come on the heels of me also successfully getting corrections added to a federally funded study about the Amish approach to Covid. That’s another topic I explored and exposed in “Follow the $cience.”

Read on for details.

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Here is the background regarding the false information Merck taught doctors about its Gardasil vaccine. 

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The following is an excerpt from my new bestseller, Follow the $cience: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails.

For one, how about the incredible fact that some of the biggest reference books med students and professionals are taught from are actually published by a pharmaceutical company! The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy is referred to as “the world’s bestselling medical textbook.” One reviewer calls it “[t]he most basic book that I used to survive 1st year to even 3rd year med school.” There’s also a handy, dandy, free consumer version. Merck advertises its Manuals (there are several editions) as “the best first place to go for medical information” and writes they are “one of the world’s most widely used medical information resources . . . committed to making the best current medical information accessible to healthcare professionals and pa- tients on every continent.” And the Manuals are provided for free. Imagine that! How selfless of Merck!

It amounts to a massive conflict of interest. But Merck would say otherwise. In its Manuals, Merck writes, “The US Food and Drug Administration requires Merck Manuals to maintain a strict separation between the publications and Merck & Co. to avoid any bias toward drugs produced by Merck.” Indeed, Merck points to various steps it takes to remove any pesky concerns about conflict of interest. An “independent” medical board reviews the articles, authors cannot be employed by Merck, and medical articles are set apart from commentary and news. Merck also promises, “[a]lthough the editorial staff is employed by Merck & Co. . . . there is no control, review, or even input into the content of the Manuals allowed from any other part of our company.” So the Merck-employed publishers are pinky-promising that they can be perfectly trusted to police themselves, and nobody could possibly be sneaking in any bias on behalf of the company or pharmaceutical industry.

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While it would be nice to take Merck at its word, it’s not difficult to find reason to be skeptical. Merck has not always proven trustworthy. For example, in 2011, Merck agreed to shell out $950 million for dis- honest and unethical behavior involving Vioxx. Vioxx was a painkiller pulled from the market in 2004 after a long-running controversy over its dangers. Merck was said to have made false, inaccurate, unsupported, or misleading statements about Vioxx’s heart safety in order to boost sales. Penalties included a $321.6 million criminal fine for illegal promotion and marketing of Vioxx. Do Merck’s Manuals tell doctors and med students about its own sordid history of deception and fraud? Apparently not. An online search of “Vioxx” in both the professional and consumer version of the Merck Manuals turned up no results on this score.

Do Merck Manuals mention that the company’s own HPV cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, has been the center of major controversies about its safety and effectiveness? Does it disclose that injured patients have filed many lawsuits claiming the vaccines caused illnesses from ovarian failure to cancer? That the scientist who codeveloped Gardasil later spoke out in an unprecedented way, saying that the Merck Gardasil vaccine may have more risks than benefits? No. Instead, Merck’s Manual makes an audacious claim under “Side Effects of HPV Vaccine.” It states flatly and falsely, “No serious side effects have been reported.” It’s unknown how that claim could possibly square with Gardasil’s FDA-approved label, also written by Merck, which states: “the following postmarketing adverse experiences have been spontaneously reported for GARDASIL: Blood and lymphatic system disorders: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, lymphade- nopathy. Respiratory, thoracic, and medias