The Claim:
A tried-and-true way of undercutting vaccine science is to claim that it is all influenced by pharmaceutical business decisions. Prominent scientists, such as Dr. Stanley Plotkin and Dr. Peter Hotez have faced these accusations. How can we respond?
The Facts:
It is important to know potential biases or conflicts of interest for people we hold up as experts. That’s why we can now search payments made by drug and medical device companies to physicians and other health care professionals.
For example, you can see that Dr. Peter Hotez has received less than $1,000 in the years that payments have been tracked, while Dr. Peter McCullough, who promotes treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, has made over $4 million from the pharmaceutical industry in that same time.
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved too since this was originally posted. Be sure to check out our most recent posts and browse the latest Just the Facts Topics for the latest.
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