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The attached letter was sent to the United States Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) following public comment given at the June 20th 2018 meeting. As a follow-up to that comment, the letter contains information concerning a civil lawsuit filed against Merck & Co. (“Merck”) that every member of ACIP should be aware of when considering the efficacy of the mumps vaccine.
Attached as Exhibit A is a copy of the Amended Complaint in United States of America et al. v. Merck & Co., Inc., Case No. 10-4373, dated April 27, 2012, filed in Federal Court. In that document, the plaintiffs, the United States of America and two former Merck virologists, describe “Merck’s efforts for more than a decade to defraud the United States through Merck’s ongoing scheme to sell the government a mumps vaccine that is … falsely certified as having an efficacy rate that is significantly higher than it actually is.”
Attached as Exhibit B is a copy of the Amended Memorandum and Order of the Court, dated September 5, 2014, denying Merck & Co.’s motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint.
Attached as Exhibit C is a copy of the Docket Report, dated July 13, 2018, for this lawsuit which reflects that Merck & Co. has filed every document related to the mumps efficacy under seal – see yellow highlighting.
It is our hope that ACIP members find this information useful in considering the efficacy of the mumps vaccine.
