Med School Book Corrected Based on Revelations in My New Book: 'Follow the $cience'

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

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:

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.

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.

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 mediastinal disorders: Pulmonary embolus. Gastrointestinal disorders: Pancreatitis. General disorders and administration site conditions: Asthenia, chills, death, malaise. Immune system disorders: Autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, broncho- spasm. Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: Arthralgia, myalgia. Nervous system disorders: Acute disseminated encephalo- myelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, motor neuron disease, paralysis, seizures, transverse myelitis. Infections and infestations: Cellulitis. Vascular disorders: Deep venous thrombosis.”

Blood clots, paralysis, seizures, brain damage, and death—yet the Merck Manual online tells med students, doctors, and consumers, “No serious side effects have been reported”? And how about this little beauty included on the information label for Gardasil 9: Gardasil isn’t recommended for pregnant women but 62 test subjects got pregnant 30 days before or 30 days after vaccination, and 18 of the pregnancies did not end with a live birth. There was an astounding 27.4 percent miscarriage rate, which is more than double that of women given a different version of the shot.

An unbiased textbook would include a fair recitation of these cons as well as the pros, and urge doctors to monitor their patients for possible side effects. Instead, Merck irresponsibly teaches doctors that serious side effects simply do not exist.

The problem extends far beyond the Merck Manuals. A 2022 study examined nine textbooks commonly used to teach which medicine to prescribe for various psychiatric disorders. Two-thirds of the textbook authors and editors had been personally paid by companies that make the drugs.

Naturally, I was curious about how Merck Manuals treat the autism and ADD epidemics that—as of this writing—afflict more than 1 in 36 eight-year-olds in the US. Is there a proportional sense of alarm sounded over the skyrocketing numbers and the medical community’s inability to slow them? Does Merck, the maker of a measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, tell the story of the CDC senior scientist, Dr William Thompson, who became a whistleblower and told Congress that he and his colleagues altered a study to minimize links between MMR vaccine and autism in black boys? Do the Merck Manuals include the opin- ion of the government’s own pro-vaccine expert, renowned pediatric neurologist Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, who came to conclude that vaccines can cause autism, after all? And who went on to swear under oath that Department of Justice attorneys fired him as their expert witness when he told them about the connection, and that they then covered up his opinion in court? Do Merck Manuals discuss the numerous federal vaccine court payments for children injured by vaccines, who ended up with autism? Are vaccine-related brain injuries examined? Is there mention of the thousands of studies that implicate vaccines in a host of disorders, from autism to chronic immune disorders that are so disturbingly common today? Does Merck disclose to fledgling doctors that “autism” is listed on the label of the since-discontinued Tripedia (DTaP) vaccine under “adverse events reported” (along with “idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS, anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolence and apnea”)?

My online search of the Merck Manuals for relevant keywords related to these topics didn’t return any of those disclosures. When I checked under the heading of “autism,” the Merck Manual simply states, “The cause in most children is unknown, although evidence supports a genetic component; in some patients, the disorders may be associated with a medical condition. Environmental causes have been suspected but are unproved. There is strong evidence that vac- cinations do not cause autism, and the primary study that suggested this association was withdrawn because its author falsified data.” The misinformation contained in this paragraph addressing the biggest and most long-standing epidemic among America’s children is breathtaking. Nope. No bias there at all.

Yet this medical publication is relied upon by medical professionals who hold our lives in their hands. A pediatrician once told me that among colleagues, the Merck Manual is commonly referred to as “the pediatric Bible.” Not “the pediatric encyclopedia,” but the “Bible”—as if to be followed religiously, without question, without thinking.

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Read more in Follow the $cience available anywhere today!