Now some of the popular “myths” about vaccines:
1) Vaccines cause autism due to mercury in them. There are two points here a) the scientific community in general does not believe there is any link between vaccines and autism (for various reasons I won’t go into here). This is a scientific consensus. Are there some in the community who believe there is a link? Sure. But the vast majority are skeptical. The mercury in the vaccines was part of the preservative called thimerosol. Preservatives are necessary to keep the vaccines potent enough for storage for a certain amount of time. Thimerosol has been removed from almost all vaccines with the exception of flu vaccines. However thimerosol free flu vaccines are available as well.
My old boss was one who wouldn’t even have thimerosol in the lab for use in non-vaccine related buffers. It is therefore now a non-issue
2) adjuvants are unsafe neurotoxins. Untrue as mentioned before they are an established technology. Before any vaccine+adjuvant gets approved for clinical trials they undergo YEARS of animal testing (usually in both mice, rats, rabbits and monkeys). And its not a few animals but hundreds for each candidate vaccine. Both safety (toxicity) and efficacy (potency) studies are conducted in these animal studies.
3) Vaccines are rushed onto the market before safety testing is finished. For the most part, wrong. Besides the years of animal studies done prior to clinical studies, the clinical trials themselves (usually conducted under very strict regs called Good Laboratory Practices and/or Good Manufacturing Practices) are long (usually in the 10 year area) where again both safety and efficiency are checked. Clinical trials are long enough to establish safety. Sometimes though when the data indicates a problem with the vaccine the study will be ended and the candidate vaccine withdrawn. This happens on a fairly regular basis but usually is not reported in the MSM. Some non-FDA approved vaccines have been rushed onto the market for use by the government from time to time. The anthrax vaccine of the mid to late 90’s is an example of this. Non-FDA approved vaccines are used in private industry for people doing experimental work. But all the vaccines used in the general population and distributed by pharmaceutical companies/biotech firms MUST be FDA approved and therefore must go through the GLP compliant clinical trials, after having extensive pre clinical testing.
4) Vaccines are huge money makers for Pharmaceuticals. Incorrect. Vaccine development and particularly production have such high costs of development and don’t have a large profit margin that many biotech’s and pharma’s do not feel the rewards are worth the risks of investing in a long drawn out research project. The UN is constantly begging Pharmas to invest more in the manufacturing of vaccines as there are constant shortages for them in the third world . Polio might be extinct in this country but it is a HUGE problem in Africa and there is not nearly enough vaccine to go around. In fact most vaccines are made by companies in Europe because laws and regs there with the funding is set up so that making the vaccines is not as expensive. The reason why there has been flu vaccine shortages in the past few years is because only 2 companies make it, and one had production issues that made them not be able to make any.

That’s the basics. Are there problems in the industry. Absolutely. I and other sensible techs/scientists often know what companies are more profit minded than science minded and avoid them like the plague (Pfizer has a real bad reputation in the professional community for example). Are there dishonest scientists? Sure and I have encountered them and fought them to the detriment of my career. Most scientists are more motivated by ego and reputation than greed though. The ability to publish and professional reputations are the big motivations for scientists . Some will massage or manipulate data to protect their intellectual reputations. Very few are motivated by simple greed although there are a few. But the vast majority of scientists and techs are dedicated and hard working and motivated to improving this world. That’s why the vast majority are registered democrats….

PS- I will be happy to answer questions to the best of my ability or direct you to where you may be able to find answers.
Thanks for bearing with me
Sue

Note to mods: I am aware most of these topics are now posted in health but I would like to see these posts remain in GD if at all possible
Note to science geeks: I am aware that I have very much simplified some very complex science in an effort to communicate and inform.