Vaccination News

The debate in the USA over the use of Merck & Co's cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil is reaching boiling point after the Governor of Texas announced plans for mandatory vaccination programmes for girls aged 11 and 12.

Republican Governor Rick Perry last week chose to employ an executive order, thus bypassing any opposition in the legislature, which makes Texas the first state to require that girls receive the human papillomavirus vaccine that causes cervical cancer before they can enter the sixth grade at school, beginning September 2008. The order does not specifically mention Gardasil but Merck's vaccine is the only HPV treatment on the market at the moment, although GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix is expected to be filed for approval in the USA by April.

Continue reading "USA stunned by Texas' mandatory Gardasil vaccination plan" »

A large-scale HIV vaccine trial has begun in South Africa.

The trial, the largest clinical trial to date, will see 3,000 HIV-negative men and women receive a vaccine containing copies of three HIV genes. Volunteers will not receive the full copy of the HIV virus, making it impossible to be infected in the trial.

Previous trials of the vaccine found it to be safe in stimulating cellular immune responses against HIV.

Continue reading "South African HIV vaccine trial begins" »

Medical advancements, parental concerns, government clout and the powerful drug industry are facing off in what promises to be vigorous nationwide debate over vaccination of young girls against the sexually transmitted human papillomarivus virus, often a precusor to cervical cancer.

Sen. Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge), co-chairman of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, would like to see administration of the HPV vaccine Gardasil to sixth-grade girls become requisite to school attendance, much like shots for other childhood illnesses.

He just proposed legislation based on American Cancer Society recommendations that females as young as nine be vaccinated against HPV, which disproportionately affects minority communities.

Continue reading "Vaccine a good idea, just don't mandate it" »

This is a quote from a post on Mothering.comn forums:

FROM THE CDC:

• Most women who develop invasive cervical cancer have not had regular cervical cancer screening.
• Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infection in women, especially if they are screened for cancer regularly with Pap tests and have appropriate follow-up of abnormalities.
• But over the last 40 years, widespread cervical cancer screening using the Pap test and treatment of pre-cancerous cervical abnormalities have resulted in a marked reduction in the incidence of and mortality due to cervical cancer in the U.S. (70%)
  

Continue reading "What the CDC doesn't want you (and your daughter) to know about HPV & cervical cancer" »

New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) India is on the threshold of launching an oral vaccine for diabetes that would replace the current practice of insulin injections, promising relief to millions in the country suffering from the debilitating health condition.

The Andhra Pradesh-based pharmaceutical company Transgene Biotek Ltd is currently doing research and pre-clinical trials of the vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad.

"We have made considerable progress in the drug development process. The new vaccine will be administered in liquid form," Prakash V. Diwan, chief of pharmacology of IICT, told IANS.

Continue reading "India developing oral vaccine to fight diabetes" »

The word "cancer" triggers emotions ranging from fear to empathy to panic. But we cannot let our emotions cause us to spend money or create mandates without careful research. We need to evaluate claims of drugmakers, lobbyists and lawmakers when they seek money for cancer prevention efforts.

Here are 10 reasons why we are skeptical about efforts to mandate for school girls the HPV vaccine against the sexually transmitted cervical-cancer virus.

10. Merck and Co. (the manufacturer of the vaccine) has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

Continue reading "Ten reasons why HPV vaccine is 'murky' issue" »

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative's (IAVI) January 2007 Annual Issue of VAX, an editorially independent bulletin on AIDS vaccine research published by IAVI, reports that 13 new preventive AIDS vaccine trials were initiated in eight countries around the world in 2006. There are now more than 30 trials ongoing in 24 countries, across every continent.

This annual publication provides the only comprehensive listing of all AIDS vaccine clinical trial activity worldwide.

Continue reading "30+ AIDS Vaccine Clinical Trials In 24 Countries, Research Occurring On Every Continent" »

ALLERGY sufferers could bid farewell to their sneezes with a new generation of vaccines that take effect within weeks.

Existing vaccines for allergies involve three to five years of regular injections with increasing amounts of allergen - the substance that triggers an allergy. All the while the immune response slowly changes from a predominance of T-helper 2 (TH2) cells, immune cells responsible for triggering allergic reactions, to T-helper 1 (TH1) cells, which stimulate the production of protective antibodies.

Because nothing is directing allergens to the right place in immune cells, it takes a lot of allergen to generate a response.

Continue reading "Vaccine zaps allergy in record time" »