"With this announcement of the increased number of cases, we might imagine that an economic opportunity has presented itself. . . .The treatment favored by doctors who treat chronic Lyme . . . is long courses of antibiotics . . . But these treatments aren't money makers. So what inspired the CDC after so many decades of ignoring and denying chronic Lyme to release these new statistics? The promise of
a new vaccine."
A pre-marketing campaign for the vaccine is already apparent. The New York Times editorial board heavily promoted the Baxter vaccine in a recent editorial. The article referenced an Op-Ed by Dr. Stanley Plotkin, who was described as a "leading vaccine expert" and "professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania," in which Plotkin said that he had been trying to "persuade manufacturers to make a new vaccine to help prevent some of the 300,000 new infections each year." He urged patients and physicians to write to the CDC and remind them of the need for a new Lyme vaccine, which would
likely be recommended for a large part of the population of the United States. The
editorial board concluded by saying, "It’s time to start writing those letters."
What the editorial board neglected to mention is that Dr. Stanley Plotkin is actually an "emeritus professor" at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary position is working as an executive adviser at the pharmaceutical firm
Sanofi Pasteur, which is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to
human vaccines. In addition, he's a
consultant to most of the major vaccine manufacturers.
