Twitter Exchange With Dr. Paul Offit

Dr. Offit’s categorically false claim about childhood vaccine clinical trials

Dr. Offit penned an article attacking Robert F. Kenney Jr. in which Dr. Offit claimed, “All vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled trials before licensure.” Dr. Offit’s claim is categorically false.

Hence, I tweeted out the following: 

In response, Dr. Offit wrote:

In rebuttal, I wrote:

Dr. Offit still has not responded, though he has changed his initial claim that “All vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled trials before licensure” to “Most vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled trials before licensure.”

It is ironic that Dr. Offit spread false information about vaccine safety in an article he claimed was about false information about vaccine safety. Incredibly, Dr. Offit’s updated claim is still categorically false. You need only review pages 3 to 7 of this document.

That he gets this wrong is highly concerning as Dr. Offit is an author of the chapter “Vaccine Safety” in the medical textbook on vaccines, Plotkin’s Vaccines, is a member of the FDA’s vaccine committee, and is viewed by many as a leading authority on vaccines and vaccine safety. 

The lesson yet again is not that “health” authorities should never make mistakes.  They will.  It happens.  The lesson is that civil and individual rights should never be contingent upon a medical procedure.  Everyone, the naturally immune or otherwise, who wants to get vaccinated and boosted should be free to do so.  But nobody should be coerced by the government to partake in any medical procedure.