Paul Offit: Claiming the High Gr Ound I N the Vaccine C Ontroversy

PaUl oFFIt: CLAIMInG tHe HIGH GR oUnD I n tHe VaCCINE C ontRoVeRsY BY B rian G. Connell Y aul aul s my my a ourtesy c hen Paul Offit (Res ’80) was a resi- dent in the emergency department at / photo WChildren’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in RRIS the late 1970s, he had a patient—a 9-month- rank ha old infant—who died of rotavirus. Offit was f shocked to realize that this common intestinal infection still killed children in the United illustration States. A leading cause of severe diarrhea in Offit is co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq, which was recommended for routine infants and young children, rotavirus contrib- immunizations in infants by the World Health Organization. utes to more than half a million deaths world- wide each year. have advanced the belief that there’s a link Offit, who has testified in congressional Some three decades later, in 2009, between vaccines and autism. The suspect hearings on vaccine safety, says the conse- RotaTeq— a vaccine for rotavirus—was recom- vaccines change, but the story remains the quences of skipping vaccines are not theo- mended by the World Health Organization to same: Citing anecdotes or data taken out of retical. He points to the pertussis outbreak in protect against the deadly infection. RotaTeq context, activist groups accuse physicians and California this year, which killed 10 infants is the fruit of 25 years of labor for Offit, the pharmaceutical companies of concealing what and infected 9,000 people. “We’re past the vaccine’s coinventor who is now a renowned they believe are harmful effects associated with tipping point,” he says. “We’re losing the herd expert in virology and immunology. Helping to vaccines. These accusations are widely publi- immunity, where enough people are vaccinated develop a vaccine that is administered around cized; the epidemiological and other studies to protect those who can’t be vaccinated.” the world has made him “enormously proud,” that disprove them, however, are not. The age of the observer makes a great dif- says Offit. “Professionally, it’s the best thing I’ve It’s been wearing for Offit, who has been ference in how the vaccine debate is perceived. ever done, and I did it for the right reasons.” threatened, sued for libel, vilified on television Younger people have simply never encountered That he would be in a position of defending by actress Jenny McCarthy, and accused of a child blinded by measles, for instance. But his intentions has come as a surprise to Offit. profiteering. (Offit was copatent holder when Offit is old enough to remember the toll of Yet he has found himself at the center of a heat- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia sold the childhood diseases. ed debate over whether childhood immuniza- RotaTeq patent to Merck and does not receive In 1956, when he was 5 years old, he had tions—arguably one of the greatest achievements payments for subsequent sales.) One study surgery for a clubfoot and spent three weeks in public health in the past century—are safe. linking vaccines to autism has been widely dis- in a Baltimore polio ward. Jonas Salk and Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor credited and recently described as “an elaborate his team at the University of Pittsburgh had of Vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at fraud” by the British Medical Journal. Yet Offit developed a vaccine that had been approved the University of Pennsylvania. He also heads says the general confusion and controversy the previous spring, following a nationwide the infectious diseases division at the Children’s won’t go away completely until a clear cause clinical trial. New cases were declining—but Hospital of Philadelphia and was a member for autism is identified. thousands of victims still lived with braces of the Advisory Committee on Immunization The contrast between the hype-driven and iron lungs. Practices for the Centers for Disease Control mass media and the stories told by scientists— It was a life-shaping experience for Offit, and Prevention. who work within a very different conceptual who never forgot the vulnerable children in Offit’s research has led to his becoming a framework than the journalists, politicians, that ward. Those memories helped drive his prominent defender of vaccines, which in turn and lawyers shaping the vaccine debate—is choice to become a pediatrician and infectious has led to his publication of mass-market books striking to Offit. His advice: “Scientists and disease specialist. on the topic—most recently, Deadly Choices: physicians need to claim the emotional high “When I take criticism—or praise—I think How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us ground. I’m in this because I’m motivated by of those kids and others,” Offit says. All, which was released in December. kids being hurt. We need to show the concern “Fear of vaccines causes children to get sick Since the early ’80s, some activist groups that motivates the science.” and die.” n SPRING 11 39.

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