This page is material from the award-winning investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London, with spin-offs for a UK TV network and a top medical journal, which exposed vaccine research cheat Andrew Wakefield | Summary | Read the book

Vaccinate Your Family and Amy Pisani – front group causing me harm

From: Brian Deer
To: Amy Pisani, executive director,
Vaccinate Your Family, Washington DC

2 March 2025

Dear Amy Pisani,

I’ve written to you previously, and to others among your staff, to ask why you curate on the website of Vaccinate Your Family indexes that purport to list journalism by me. There are now two pages on which you do this, appearing prominently on search engines. Both are inaccurate. But that’s not the point.

I’ve repeatedly asked why you seek to associate me with Vaccinate Your Family. And why you and your staff persistently ignore my inquiries regarding this?

Vaccinate Your Family has nothing to do with me, and I’ve nothing to do with Vaccinate Your Family. I’ve never had any dealings with you, apart from this complaint. Indeed, I regret to say Ms Pisani, I regard Vaccinate Your Family to be a pharmaceutical industry front masquerading as a public interest charity.

Another I know of is the Vaccine Hesitancy Project, based in London. And there are more, not only in the field of vaccination, but in almost every area of medicine.

In these unfortunate circumstances, I feel I should go further.

Although I note, for example, that you acknowledge in your annual reports Vaccinate Your Family’s receipt of drug company money. Specifically, you identify the following vaccine manufacturers:

GSK, MSD, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, Seqirus, and Dynavax.

However, despite your purported “Principles” of “Transparency and Full Disclosure,” published in a policy statement of July 2009, you don’t reveal how much money each of them gives you, and you pepper these corporations’ names among individual listed donors, obscuring your debt to industry and thus flouting the policy you proclaim.

Over the years of my investigations, many individuals and organizations have sought to imply an association with me, damaging my reputation and the public interest work I’ve carried out.

People seeing my work listed (inaccurately) online by Vaccinate Your Family is bound to spread confusion and criticism as a consequence of your organisation appearing to hold my journalism hostage without any explanation for your conduct. So, the abuse pours in to my mailbox from people who wrongly believe I’m some kind of campaigner or, like you, supported by the drug industry.

Given that I’ve repeatedly asked Vaccinate Your Family for an explanation, I conclude that Vaccinate Your Family, and you personally Amy Pisani, couldn’t care less about damaging me with this false association.

I’m sorry to have to write to you in these terms, but I can’t stand by and let you do me harm without me at least speaking out to make the position clear.