Doctor Defends Merck on Vaccine Safety

“Merck Misled on Vaccines, Some Say” (March 7) leads the reader to believe that Merck & Co. misled the Food and Drug Administration and doctors and patients from 1999 to 2001, at which time it was distributing both thimerosal-free and thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine.

As a pediatrician who used these vaccines during that period, I can report that there was no misleading of doctors.

This is another in a series of articles that seem to be biased toward the idea that vaccines are the cause of autism and that vaccine companies like Merck have deceived the public about their safety.

Excellent scientific studies now show no link between the use of the thimerosal preservative and autism, and that analysis is empirically supported by the simple observation that since the removal of thimerosal from almost all vaccines, there has been no decrease in the incidence of autism.

Dr. Joel J. Widelitz

Seal Beach