A PR company that represents Pfizer and Moderna has staff ’embedded’ in the CDC’s vaccine approval board, it has emerged.
New York-based firm Weber Shandwick has been responsible for elevating Pfizer’s profile since at least 2006. It partnered with Moderna in June this year, after the small biotech firm became a household name following its vaccine success.
Last November it was hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its office involved in the roll out of vaccines — including those for Covid.
It is responsible for ‘health communication’ at the Government agency, urging Americans to ensure they get Covid vaccines.
Experts have already expressed concerns over the potential conflict of interest at the CDC due to the hire.
Vaccine makers made more than $34billion in profits last year from just the Covid jabs — equivalent to $1,000 a second, according to the People’s Vaccines Alliance.
They are expected to make billions more from the bivalent booster jabs being rolled out this winter — with the US having bought 171million.
A spokesperson for Weber Shandwick said they were ‘proud’ of their work to ‘advance public health’.
Today the updated shots — which tackle Omicron variants — got the green light for children as young as five years old. They are currently recommended for all over-12s.
Experts have raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest at the CDC after it hired Weber Shandwick, which has also worked for Pfizer and Moderna. The agency is yet to comment
Weber Shandwick works for the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).
It is responsible for overseeing the purchase and distribution of vaccines — including those for Covid.
Revealing the link, an employee wrote on LinkedIn 11 months ago: ‘So excited to be starting a new role today! I’m joining Weber Shandwick as an Account Director supporting a contract I know well, at the CDC’s NCIRD!’
Another employee replied: ‘Welcome back to the team!’
They work in ‘health communication’, which involves encouraging people to get vaccinated.
In 2020 the PR firm also won an up to $50million contract to promote flu vaccines to the US public.
Weber Shandwick was employed by Moderna in June this year alongside two other PR firms to head up its communications. PR Week reports they are involved in promoting mRNA technology.
The group is also a long-time client of Pfizer’s, having been brought on back in 2003 to assist with marketing around viagra pills and medicines for heart disease.
Last year it was reported they had received ‘expanded assignments’ from the pharma giant.
Responding to DailyMail.com today, a spokesperson for Weber Shandwick said: ‘We are proud of the important work we do to advance public health.
‘When we work for organizations in the same sector, we have a thorough vetting and mitigation process to avoid conflicts, including legal review, separate and distinct teams and strong confidentiality protocols.’
The CDC is yet to comment.
The story was broken by public journalism platform DisInformation.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for Public Citizen, blasted the CDC today for the conflict of interest.
‘This is irresponsible of CDC to issue a PR contract to Weber Shandwick,’ he said, ‘knowing that the firm also works for Moderna and Pfizer’.
Pfizer and Moderna’s jabs have formed the cornerstone of America’s vaccine roll out, with more than 800million doses ordered at a cost above $10billion.
The two companies were also the only ones to sell updated bivalent booster shots to America this year — which target Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
More than 42million doses of these have been delivered so far, at a cost that is yet to be revealed.
But the program is languishing despite calls from the White House for everyone to get doses with just six per cent of all over-12s eligible having come forward.
Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed it was expanding eligibility to young children.
It gave the green-light for Moderna’s updated shot to be given to six year olds, and Pfizer’s to those as young as five.
This will still need to be signed off by the CDC, but suggests that the beleaguered program will be expanded to more age groups.
The beleaguered CDC saw public trust in the agency erode during the Covid pandemic after a litany of errors.
It was slow to recommend face masks in the early days, or to warn that Covid was likely spreading through the air.
Later in the pandemic it has also signed off on Covid vaccines for children as young as six months old.
The move has faced criticism from many experts because of the vanishingly small risk very young children face of death or serious disease from the virus.
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