Which private corporation has likely been responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than any terrorist organization or military regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere? For us, the answer is evident: Merck and Company.

One of the largest scandals in recent medical history was the company’s anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx that resulted in fines above $4.8 billion for causing over a minimum 60,000 deaths from sudden heart attacks and over 120,000 serious medical injuries.

At its height, Vioxx was earning over $2 billion in revenues annually and it is estimated that 25 million patients were prescribed the medication. The securities class action suit against the company alone reached $1 billion, placing it in the top 15 securities lawsuits in US corporate history. The primary charge was Merck’s intentional withholding of scientific data about the drug’s adverse cardiovascular side effects. 

Years after the settlement, Ron Unz, the publisher of The American Conservative, undertook his own investigation to validate Vioxx’s death toll. Analyzing the drug’s adverse effects over a longer time period, Unz estimated Merck may have been responsible for nearly half a million premature deaths in elderly patients, the drug’s primary target group.

That is roughly the same number of total civilian, military and terrorist deaths from the US’ military escapades in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan combined. 

Merck is America’s leading vaccine manufacturer.

What is important at this moment is that many corporations are fast-tracking a Covid-19 vaccine, without sufficient long-term animal and human clinical trials, and Merck is now aggressively making efforts to beat out its competition with a Covid-19 vaccine.

Do we really want to trust such a company with this reputation with a Covid vaccine?