Posts Tagged ‘vaccine’
Is CNN suggesting manditory vaccinations?
September 6th, 2009Mosquitoes deliver malaria ‘vaccine’ through bites
July 30th, 2009The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.
The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind’s top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.
“Malaria vaccines are moving from the laboratory into the real world,” Dr. Carlos Campbell wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. He works for PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a Seattle-based global health foundation. [ … ]
» Read more: Mosquitoes deliver malaria ‘vaccine’ through bites
Swine Flu Shot in U.S. May Rely on Emergency Use of Additives
July 29th, 2009July 29 (Bloomberg) — Swine flu vaccine makers may rely on a U.S. emergency declaration to use experimental additives made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG to boost a limited supply of shots that will be available to fight the pandemic.
The ingredients, known as adjuvants, may be added for the first time to flu shots in the U.S. Health officials, meeting today at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, plan to discuss use of the additives, and may also recommend who should be first to receive the limited amount of vaccines drugmakers say they will begin delivering in October.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department declared a public health emergency over swine flu in April, and the Food and Drug Administration has the power to allow the use of unapproved medical products during such a crisis. The U.S. has been slow to approve the use of adjuvants because of safety concerns, and for fear of giving Americans an excuse to avoid getting the shots, said John Treanor, a University of Rochester researcher. [ … ]
» Read more: Swine Flu Shot in U.S. May Rely on Emergency Use of Additives
The current threat of swine flu doesn’t justify a gamble on a vaccine that has not been fully tested
July 22nd, 2009A mass vaccination program moves ever closer. Orders have been placed; priority groups identified. There will be enough swine flu vaccine to inoculate the entire population, starting with NHS staff, in an attempt to halt the spread of the disease and save lives.
Is all this really necessary? To start with, swine flu is far milder than we first feared, so the case for vaccinating millions of healthy adults against a disease that is no more unpleasant than a bad cold is questionable. There is a stronger argument for vaccinating those at greater risk, such as those with lung, heart or kidney disease, those with suppressed immune systems (such as those on cancer treatment), pregnant women and children under 5 — but only if the vaccine works and is safe. But there are serious doubts about this.
Rushing the vaccine on to the market means we will have no idea how effective it is, although we do have a body of research on the effectiveness of flu vaccines in general, which gives some idea of what we might expect from the swine flu vaccine. Provided that we have matched the vaccine well with the virus, it is likely to be up to 80 per cent effective in healthy adults, the group at least risk from the virus.
A number of trials have looked at the effect of flu vaccination on children’s asthma and have failed to demonstrate any benefit; one trial even suggested that the vaccine made asthma worse. There is no good evidence that the vaccine helps those with chronic health problems or pregnant women. However, we do know that the immunisation offers no more than a modest benefit in the elderly; indeed, the effectiveness of the vaccine is known to decrease sharply after 70 years of age.
The first vaccines are expected to arrive in the UK by the end of next month. It will be some weeks later before they have gone through the minimal safety testing necessary to consider offering them to the general population. Realistically, it is unlikely that sufficient doses will arrive to vaccinate substantial numbers until the end of the year.
Full story at Times Online
