10 Quotes by Paul Offit

The problem with the original vaccine is when given to kids over 7, it caused some pretty severe reactions,

What makes you vulnerable is the virulence, the dangerousness, of the virus, and the 1918 virus was one dangerous virus, ... Avian flu, too - when it infects, it kills. That's why people are scared, and reasonably so.

God knows we need a vaccine against traveler's diarrhea. This approach is very straightforward and seems to work.

The problem was, the earlier vaccines didn't cause long-lasting immunity, ... Frequent boosting was required.

The question becomes, which is the conservative and which is the radical decision? I think the more radical choice, frankly, is not to give the vaccine.

Even if bird flu isn't the culprit, there almost certainly will be a disastrous pandemic of some sort in the next 20 years, ... And if we continue on our present course, the U.S. will not be prepared to handle it.

The virus is clearly not highly contagious among mammals, and I don't think it's going to become so.

Rotavirus basically affects everybody by the time they are 5. If we took blood samples of all people, it would be rare to find someone who has not had rotavirus.

You're talking about a billion-dollar project for not a very high-profit product,