# Vaccine Safety Advocates and Industry Ties: Paul Offit and the AAP

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119958971201241491
- Source account: [@MidwesternDoc](https://x.com/MidwesternDoc)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 1:20
- Published: 2026-11-10
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap) There are some of the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician, Dr. Paul Offit.

[0:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=10) Hundred forty-two thousand dollars was given to the academy by Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine, for a community grant program.

[0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=18) Four hundred thirty-three thousand dollars was contributed to the academy by Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's HPV vaccine.

[0:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=26) Then there's Dr. Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely quoted defender of vaccine safety.

[0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=31) He's gone so far as to say babies can theoretically tolerate, quote, "10,000 vaccines at once."

[0:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=38) This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview.

[0:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=41) I'm the chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and a professor of pediatrics at Penn's Medical School.

[0:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=47) Dr. Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject.

[0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=50) But like others in our investigation, he has strong industry ties.

[0:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=54) In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider.

[0:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=57) Dr. Offit holds a $1.5 million research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck.

[1:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=63) He holds the patent on an anti-diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merck, RotaTeq, which has prevented thousands of hospitalizations in the US, and future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash.

[1:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/6PzbQVzlZirq/en/vaccine-safety-advocates-and-industry-ties-paul-offit-and-the-aap?t=77) Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits, unknown.