Paul Offit is no longer an FDA advisor. But he's still delusional
He's puzzled about his dismissal. I need to vent...
In this brief clip Offit candidly spills the beans on the MMR autism connection:
“You can never really say that MMR doesn’t cause autism, but frankly, when you get in front of the media, you better get used to saying it.”
Offit did get used to saying it. Saying it so often, in fact, that he might have lost his bearings on reality. I think that Offit is, in fact, suffering from a form of delusion. He’s been at the top of the vaccine industry for so long I think he actually believes that when he says something it becomes true. What do you call this form of mental disturbance? Narcissism? Delusions of Grandeur? Megalomania?
Offit lies about many other things besides the potential MMR-Autism connection. I have documented only a small portion of these distortions and prevarications in a series of posts here on this newsletter over the last two years (links in the text below).
The Guardian reported that Vaccinologist and Pediatric Infectious Disease specialist Dr. Paul Offit has been removed from the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee roster as of today, September 2, 2025.
In response Offit is quoted :
“I understand that it’s likely I didn’t get through HHS because Robert F Kennedy Jr may not like me as much as I’d hoped. I have been critical of the administration. But that’s OK, because it’s OK to have debate about things, it’s OK to question, and then if you think I’m wrong, tell me where I’m wrong.”
The tempered response is very telling of the kind of man Offit is. Unless you have been following his diatribe and his gross misrepresentation of Kennedy’s positions over the last few years you may conclude that this reasonable and earnest man was dismissed for questionable reasons.
Paul, you thought that Secretary Kennedy might have liked you more than you had hoped? You are delusional.
You think it’s okay to have a debate about things? Really? Why haven’t you invited the head of public health in this country to sit down with you and talk things out?
You want to be told where you’re wrong? Okay. Here goes:
Offit claims Kennedy doesn’t believe in Germ Theory
To make his case, he cites a single entry from “The Real Anthony Fauci” where Kennedy describes what “miasma theory” is. Kennedy goes on to write that miasma and germ theory are likely both in effect, but he discounts himself as an authority on the matter.
Offit somehow misses the thrust of the entire book which takes deep dives into the evidence that HIV may not be the cause of AIDS. In fact a different virus, HHV6 is the likely culprit. Human Herpes Virus 6 is a “germ”.
I spell things out here:
The above post also shows how Offit
Claims that Kennedy exaggerates the benefit of sanitation and other measures in curbing the incidence of communicable disease contrary to the CDC’s own data.
Misrepresents Kennedy’s advice to the Prime Minister of Samoa following a measles outbreak in 2019
Falsely claims that the Salk poliomyelitis vaccine trial of 1954 used a saline placebo in the control arm when it didn’t.
Falsely accuses Kennedy of saying that the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 was due to a flu vaccine
Conflicts of Interest
Why do I keep going after Dr. Paul Offit? Because he could be a Powerful Ally
Offit is a most interesting character to me. He uses his substack platform to drive home the fact that Secretary Kennedy is doing nothing but spreading “antivax” lies that are immediately apparent to smart people like his readers.
In the piece above Offit attacks Kennedy for being in the pocket of Big “Antivax” because in 2023 Kennedy received a salary of $300K from Children’s Health Defense, an organization which Kennedy founded and chaired.
Offit, has never disclosed how many millions he was paid from Merck for his Rotateq vaccine. To defend himself against any accusations of conflict of interest, Offit states that he had to declare his numerous conflicts of interest while he was working for the CDC’s ACIP.
Somehow, in this man’s twisted mind declaring your conflicts of interest exonerates you from having any.
Offit proves he’s a megalomaniac
Dr. Paul Offit gets it completely backwards. Again.
Readers of this newsletter are aware that I have frequently criticized Dr. Paul Offit for his increasingly desperate approach to frame any skepticism of vaccine safety as unfounded and dangerous.
In this post I address his impassioned plea to his followers that he is the Galileo figure standing up to a towering force of disinformation coming from the antivax movement.
Need I say more?
The Bizarre Logic of a Vaccine Fetishist
Peter. Paul. We're Wary.
Peter Hotez, MD, PhD and Paul Offit, MD are two experts in the field of Vaccinology who find themselves in a losing battle over public trust. Both have enjoyed years of unwavering support of the medical establishment. This has allowed them to pursue their careers free of any real scrutiny and suspicion. But both have been in the public eye as of late as…
The article above explores a most interesting exchange between Offit and Attorney Aaron Siri.
Here Offit gets tied up in his own arguments claiming that some vaccines have been tested against saline placebos (though almost none save the Covid shots have) while also arguing that it would be unethical to use saline as a placebo because the control arm would be subjected to unnecessary risk.
Those who push this “unethical” argument never address the fact that there are millions of children not in the trial that aren’t receiving the vaccine either, never mind the fact that the brave kids (and their naive parents) are offering themselves in order to do an investigation that will determine efficacy and safety of a vaccine formulation.
How can you adequately test for safety if a saline placebo isn’t used as the control?
And
How do you know that the inoculate used in a non-saline placebo is safe if it has never been tested against a saline placebo?
Offit resorts to claiming that saline is not entirely safe either. Why? Saline is water with salt. If you give too much water to a person they could end up seizing. Too much salt could lead to pulmonary edema from fluid retention.
Both are true.
But you cannot fit 10 liters of water or a kg of salt in a 1cc syringe. Moreover every single IV medicine is given diluted in saline or a similar formulation. This pediatric infectious disease specialist spews nonsense with impunity when it serves him.
Offit thinks pulling Thimerosal out of vaccines is a bad idea…
Dr. Paul Offit thinks that pulling Thimerosal out of vaccines was a Bad Idea
Paul Offit wants to put Thimerosal back into vaccines.
A single infant died of fulminant hepatitis B over a quarter century ago because the facility was hesitant to vaccinate with a hep B vaccine that had thimerosal in it.
That is his argument for leaving this potent neurotoxin in multidose flu vaccines today.
Conclusion
Yes. I know that tomorrow he will be on the legacy media circuit whining that his departure will likely lead to untold tragedies, and many will believe him.
But for tonight…
Buh-Bye, Paul! Buh-Bye!
On September 2, Offit penned a piece on his own substack newsletter. The article is titled "To Serve Man". I think he wrote it before he found out about his dismissal from the FDA VRBPAC. In it he recycles all of his false talking points about Secretary Kennedy.
Here is the comment I left there. Consider leaving your own comments there. To his credit, Offit allows all to leave comments, not just paying subscribers like most heavy influencers.
Link to article
https://pauloffit.substack.com/p/to-serve-man
Dr. Offit,
Cite the study that compares unvaccinated to vaccinated children with regard to chronic disease load over an extended observation period. That would make Kennedy and all his antivaxxer nut jobs stand down.
The problem is that there isn't any. Worse yet, the study could be done today and should have been done thirty years ago. What proof does the CDC have that it's immunization schedule is safe? Why does the onus of proof sit with those who believe they could be harmful when the CDC, by their own recommendations claim that their immunization schedule is safe?
You helped write the amicus briefing to the SCOTUS in support of the National Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. I read it. Vaccine manufacturers need indemnification because otherwise they would stop making vaccines. Okay. Fine. But the amicus also argued that that act formed the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund that was required because too many children were being injured by vaccines and were lost in the legal system.
That Fund has since paid over $5,000,000,000 to the vaccine injured. Devastating injuries are happening but we simply don't know how many.
The two measles deaths this year weren't from the measles. They were deaths from community acquired pneumonia that went unrecognized by the care team. The families are suing and they will win.
Tell us Paul, how many children do we need to vaccinate to prevent a pertussis death? Now tell us the serious adverse event frequency of that vaccine so we can understand something beyond "child died! It was antivaxxer propaganda!!"
You keep attacking Kennedy by making stuff up. He doesn't believe in germ theory? Really? He recommends the measles vaccine as the best way to prevent the measles. Why? How can the measles vaccine prevent the measles if there wasn't a germ involved? Care to explain that?
The evidence for HIV causing AIDS is very flimsy. This is not just his opinion. This is the opinion expressed by some the world's best medical researchers and virologists. Kennedy has asked us to examine the role of HHV6 in causing AIDS.
HHV6 is known to attack CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes unlike HIV. And HHV6 is a virus. In other words a GERM, Paul. He goes into this in great depth in his book "The Real Anthony Fauci". It's the book which you quote over and over where you claim you have proof that he believes in the miasma theory and not germ theory.
A quick look at the book proves you wrong. He explains what miasma theory is. He even goes so far as to describe miasma theory as the explanation that environmental factors play a role in making a person more susceptible to GERMS. And then he writes explicitly that he holds no opinion on the matter and defers to the medical community to sort things out. You're just lying and it is so easy demonstrable.
Look, nobody is going to deny that you have a ton of experience and understanding of the subject, but why make things up that aren't true? This stuff you are saying about Kennedy is so easily debunked it makes me think that you are suffering from a kind of delusion.
It's like you are so used to being unchallenged that you feel like you can say anything you want to and it will be true from the formidable authority you possess in this sphere.
Yesterday you found out that your services were no longer requested as an advisor to the FDA. Your response as quoted by the Guardian:
"I understand that it’s likely I didn’t get through HHS because Robert F Kennedy Jr may not like me as much as I’d hoped. I have been critical of the administration. But that’s OK, because it’s OK to have debate about things, it’s OK to question, and then if you think I’m wrong, tell me where I’m wrong."
So you hoped that Kennedy liked you MORE? Really? After these constant lies you spread about him, his work, his opinions which are backed by other doctors and scientists that are no less revered as you? It's OKAY to have a debate about things? Since when do you believe that Paul? You're on tape admitting that you cannot technically say that vaccines don't cause autism but you have to. Why? Because that would open up a debate.
Okay, why don't you invite Kennedy to have a debate, or a friendly conversation with you so you can hold his feet to the fire or prove he is bonkers like you say. You have had that opportunity but you never took it.
The public isn't stupid. Most aren't experts in virology and immunology or in any field at all. However they are smart enough to know that a guilty party will bend over backwards to see that evidence is not admitted while the innocent will advocate for full disclosure.
I am personally offended by what you are doing not just because I am a physician. It's because I trained at UPENN where you hold your professorship. I trained at CHoP where you developed your vaccine. Your lies and misrepresentation sullies my own training.
Madhava Setty, MD
Thank you for these and many other essays—I really appreciate them!