Vaccination News

Orin S. Levine may be heading for trouble with the Disney people.

At lectures, Dr. Levine, a pneumonia expert, uses a homemade slide that illustrates his predicament — Nemo, the little lost movie clownfish, next to the words “Finding Pneumo.”

Pneumonia is the biggest killer of the world’s children. It kills two million a year, more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. It carries off many adult AIDS victims in poor countries and, even in rich ones, is the final shove through the gates of death for many of the elderly and sick.

If an avian flu pandemic emerges, pneumonia will stroll its killing fields, finishing off the wounded.

Yet it gets no respect.

Continue reading "A Campaign to Get a Disease Some Respect" »

If you believe that you definately need an influenza vaccine, if you think that you can be protected by taking this shot, please read the article A Shot of Fear. It's worth every second of the time you will spend reading it.

LONDON (AFX) - Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc said it has amended some of its exclusive licences with GlaxoSmithKline for the use of Coley''s VaxImmune vaccine in the development of vaccines for infectious diseases.

This means that the US company can enter into non-exclusive VaxImmune agreements with other vaccine developers, but will see it taking a 17.4 mln usd reduction in potential milestone payments.

The amendments do not affect the GSK''s agreement with Coley on the use of VaxImmune in the development of cancer vaccines.

source - AFX 

KARACHI - The officials of WHO had not supplied the required quantity of P3 vaccines due to which two more cases of polio in the province had resulted, said Sindh Secretary Health Dr Naushad Shiekh while speaking at the closing ceremony of a training workshop organised by the UNICEF and EPI Sindh Thursday.

He said that another case of polio had been registered in Kashmore and that he would ask the WHO authorities to transfer the officials responsible for the negligence.

He said that the P1 virus had been curbed in the area while P3 had migrated from Balochistan to Sindh. He appreciated this workshop and stressed the need for more such events.

source - Daily Times 

BANGKOK, 8 December (IRIN) - International pharmaceutical companies are racing to prepare, and obtain regulatory approval for, a vaccine to protect humans against avian influenza, but scientists do not know whether the vaccines under development would be able to protect people from a potential pandemic influenza strain, if it eventually emerges.

At present, 27 human clinical trials of vaccines against several different strains of avian influenza are under way by more than a dozen western drug companies, and so far, they have resulted in some immune response in those vaccinated.

However, the vaccines now in development are based on strains of the lethal H5N1 virus that have circulated in Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey and influenzas are fast mutating viruses, so it is unclear whether vaccines developed from old strains will offer any protection against new strains.

Continue reading "Jury still out on vaccines" »

The trial of the vaccine has been launched this morning at the University of Melbourne, and the researchers say if all goes well it could be as significant as the recently approved vaccine for cervical cancer.

In Melbourne, Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Type 1 diabetes is the least common form of the disease. Only 10-15 per cent of people with diabetes have it. It's marked by an inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, because the cells that make insulin have been destroyed by the body's own immune system. That's usually triggered by something like a viral infection, which leads the immune system to destroy the cells. The insulin must be replaced by daily injections.

Unlike type 2 diabetes, which can be caused by poor diet and lack of exercise, the cause of type 1 diabetes isn't fully understood. But researchers say there's a strong family link.

Continue reading "Researchers trial diabetes vaccine" »

Merck & Co Company has developed a unique quadruple vaccine for preventing cervical cancer, which is expected to appear in Russia next year.
      
The vaccine is called "Gardasil" and is recommended for women aged between 9 and 26 as a preventive measure for malignant growths in womb neck, caused by human papilloma virus of types 6, 11, 16 and 18.
      
Gardasil is not a therapeutic agent, it is designed only for prevention, and thus the most effective way of application for this vaccine is vaccination of girls before they start their sexual life.

Continue reading "Anti-Cervical Cancer Vaccine To Appear In Russia Next Year" »

James Colgrove, Ph.D., M.P.H.

On September 12, 2006, 3 months after the Food and Drug Administrationlicensed a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), Michiganlawmakers became the first in the United States to propose thatvaccination be compulsory for girls entering sixth grade. Parentswho objected would be able to opt out of the requirement underthe same provisions that apply to other vaccinations. The billpassed the state senate by an overwhelming margin a week laterand awaits consideration by the house. Other states are likelyto follow Michigan's lead.

The development of Gardasil, Merck's HPV vaccine, is of majorpublic health importance. The vaccine protects against fourstrains of HPV, the most common sexually transmitted diseasein the United States, including the two strains that cause mostcases of cervical cancer. More than 6 million people in thiscountry become infected with HPV every year, and nearly 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer. Because the vaccinehas the greatest benefit when it is given before a person becomessexually active, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practicesof the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendedthat it be given routinely to girls at 11 or 12 years of age;it is not yet approved for use in boys. The committee took noposition on whether vaccination should be required by law; suchpolicy decisions are made by individual states.

Continue reading "The Ethics and Politics of Compulsory HPV Vaccination" »