Beware Doctors' Tainted Advice on Vaccines
The white coat offering public medical advice may have a political agenda when they recommend another jab. We just watched it unfold at the highest levels of leadership in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been talking about vaccine compliance since his disastrous Aug. 25 measles press conference in Lancaster County. Working on behalf of his local vaccine company, Shapiro is running political interference against the Trump Administration's Aug. 10 executive order reducing childhood vaccine recommendations from 18 to 11 diseases, and splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot into single shots. That is certain to cut profits for vaccine makers like Merck & Co., producer of "the most sold MMR vaccine in the U.S.," which is located in Shapiro's home county.
Shapiro is exploiting public trust in doctors to keep vaccine compliance high.
Actual Medical Professionals
To whip up more public alarm, Shapiro has trotted out medical experts in vaccine-related press conferences, but also in seemingly unrelated pressers. In a Sept. 2 press conference in Scranton to "celebrate the Shapiro administration's historic investments in education," he didn't break any news. But when he turned to the media, someone asked the magic vaccine question.
"The situation with measles . . . what's being done and how can people feel safe?" A reporter pitched that sucker right over the plate.
Shapiro warned measles is dangerous but preventable, "if we trust science and actual medical professionals."
"Federal public health leaders have really been stoking fear and injecting misinformation and conspiracy theories into this conversation." Shapiro claimed U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump Administration are "dismantling our public health agencies to the point where parents don't know right from wrong because they're getting misinformation from the people they're supposed to trust at the federal level."
He advised the public to do what he did, consult with "actual medical experts." That's how he decided vaccination is best.
As luck would have it, a medical expert was at the Scranton presser. State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, is a registered nurse, and—what a coincidence—she is campaigning for reelection.
"I'm going to put her on the spot because we have an actual medical expert here," Shapiro said. "If Nurse Kosierowski wants to add anything to that answer, I'd welcome you."
Kosierowski jumped at the chance to bolster Shapiro's messaging.
"Thanks, Governor, and thanks for the leadership on this this outbreak," Kosierowski said. "We know how to treat things like measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, COVID. It's called a vaccine, and unfortunately, from the federal level, they have scared people and given them misinformation."
Trust Me, I'm a Doctor
Another expert stumping for Shapiro's agenda is Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a long-time vaccine proponent with scary predictions about measles.
"Here's what worries me the most," Offit posted on his blog. "Measles is typically a winter spring disease. It's August . . . I fear that as we head into winter, outbreaks of measles might worsen." He also had some choice words about Trump and Kennedy. He's also a pundit on CNN.
Offit may be bitter because last year Kennedy removed him from the FDA advisory committee on vaccines. He held the spot for two terms starting in 2017 and running right through the Covid era.
Trust Us, We're Doctors Too
On August 31, state Sen. Maria Collett, another registered nurse, held a similar presser with other Democrats "not just as lawmakers, but as healthcare professionals." Speakers included State Rep. Arvind Venkat, an emergency physician; state Rep. Tarik Khan, an RN with a Ph.D. in nursing; and Rep. Kosierowski. Coincidently, all are campaigning for reelection.
Collett has been endorsed by 3.14 Action Victory Fund. The rest have received donations from the fund. Venkat, $15,000; Khan, $27,000; and Kosierowski, $2,500.
The 3.14 Action website says it is "the only national organization working to recruit, train, and elect Democratic scientists and doctors to office." Its candidates include DSA radical Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan for U.S. Senate, and 11 candidates in Pennsylvania.
It's All Politics
Offit was a featured speaker at an August 19 joint Protect Our Care and 3.14 Action poll briefing where they identified Trump's executive order as unpopular with voters.
"There's no reason to separate it out," Offit said. "Those vaccines have not been available as separate shots since 2009. And the two companies that make that vaccine have stepped forward and said we're not going to separate this out because it doesn't make the vaccine safer. It only makes it more expensive and more difficult to get. That would mean making a new vaccine. That would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to basically make a vaccine against something you're already making that works and is safe."
Coincidently, that was just six days before Shapiro's measles presser.
Protect Our Care (POC) aims to make health care a right not a privilege, for everyone living in America. POC boasts "a highly effective inside game with policy makers, and deep engagement at the state and local level," its website reads.
POC receives funding from the Sixteen Thirty Fund which is funded in part by the Soros Family's Open Society Policy Center,
POC and 314 Action often collaborate on health care advocacy. The Sixteen Thirty Fund was originally part of the multi-billion-dollar, but now defunct, Arabella Advisors "dark money" network.
But you never hear politicians or doctors talking about that.
Broken Trust
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the FDA have rules about doctors promoting products. The American Medical Association has guidelines too. Doctors are seen as trustworthy, looking out for your health.
In this case, doctors are promoting policy connected to a product. But they are not disclosing their political affiliations, campaign donations, and connections to dark money activist groups. Their advice doesn't spring from concern for public health and certainly not individual health.
Doctors are allowed to have opinions and political leanings, but a white coat is not enough to earn political trust.
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