Her employer Merck realized that a mover-shaker like Julie Gerberding knows the ropes, has great one-phone-call connections inside the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO), and just as importantly, the image of concern necessary to convince millions more Americans in the future to become unreasonably terrified of sore throats, enough perhaps to once again wrench hundreds of thousands of scared children out of school, close down offices, and panic everyone, including politicians, into investing more and more billions every year in Merck vaccines.
You might even say that CDC functions effectively as the primary marketing department for Big Pharma. And remember, the corporate government complex has learned well that if you keep America afraid all the time you can damn well do whatever you want while they're vibrating with distraction.
Is all this so unusual? No. If you are CDC or FDA employee and you wish to triple your salary, you become a sales person for Big Pharma. I'll bet Julie Gerberding is making five times or more than what she earned at CDC. Write her and ask her, will you?
I wonder what animal will be next to market flu vaccines for Merck and Julie Gerberding. We've seen birds, swine, flesh-eating bateria, so what is left? Crocodile flu? Gerbel flu? Pelican paralysis disease?
Regardless, as an intelligent commenter noted in the Reuters article on Julie Gerberding of Merck:
Will the truth hurt the new mistress of Merck? I doubt it. I'm sure she is using all the classic inner defenses and denials to excuse herself.
Gerberding was a good friend to Merck. It bears asking, however, with all the cases implicating Merck in fraudulent activity, how is it that Gerberding now feels comfortable joining the Merck team? The losers in this revolving-door practice are Americans who still trust their health to a 6th-grade concept of democracy and accountability.It hurts. I need a vaccine against the pain of the truth.
And now we have Dr. Julie Gerberding cleverly reading her telerprompter and pitching Swine Flu vaccine while "concerned Americans" (paid actors) ask her questions as if they really care. It's all so carefully orchestrated and non-invasive that I want to just hug her and buy her a drink.
Oh, and PLEASE NOTE that towards the end she tells you not to run to the doctor's office, just take it easy. It's so serious that you can avoid the doc, but you definitely need a vaccine anyway. Huh?