Stephen Krahling was a published cancer researcher when vaccine maker Merck brought him on board as a virologist in 1999. That’s when he says he found himself embroiled in an all-hands-on-deck corporate emergency and became part of a scandal that’s lasted 25 years.
“When I showed up to start work at Merck they were dealing with a potential product recall,” he recently told “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.” “And it wasn’t something that was just casually discussed. It was a Sky is Falling level event.”
The crisis surrounded Merck’s blockbuster-selling MMR-II against measles, mumps and rubella – and worries that it might be defective.
The problem first arose when the Food and Drug Administration began a review of vaccines in the mid-1990s and found a potency issue with the MMR vaccine. It turns out that as MMR vaccine sat on shelves waiting to be used, the live virus in it that makes the shot work was dying off to less than what the FDA-approved label claimed. That discovery triggered a series of behind-the scenes-events, though doctors and patients were none the wiser.
First, the FDA instructed Merck to start putting more of the virus into the MMR vaccine upfront, that’s called “overfilling,” so that it would be potent through its two-year shelf life, even after some of the virus died off. Merck started doing that in early 2000. […]
— Read More: justthenews.com
