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Scientists closer to a safer anthrax vaccine
The currently available, 40-year-old anthrax vaccine, can prevent disease, but it has significant drawbacks: Immunity is temporary, and five injections over the course of eighteen months are needed to sustain it; one in five vaccine recipients develop redness, swelling, or pain at the injection site, and a small number develop severe allergic reactions; researchers offer a better vaccine
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Stanford researchers aim to stretch limited supply of flu vaccine
Stanford researchers begin trials which, if successful, it could mean that doctors would give people one swine flu shot instead of the anticipated two doses spread three weeks apart
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Swine flu: 10 things you should know
A White House report from an expert panel suggests that from 30 percent to half the U.S. population could catch swine flu during the course of this pandemic and that from 30,000 to 90,000 could die
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More swine flu cases at U.S. colleges as students return
CDC spokesperson: “I don’t think we’re surprised by the fact influenza is returning to these campuses. What is concerning to us is people becoming complacent about this and not taking the steps we know can protect them”
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WHO issue antiviral flu recommendations
The World Health Organization issued recommendations for antiviral treatment of both seasonal and swine flu; the guidelines represent the consensus reached by an international panel of experts who reviewed all available studies on the safety and effectiveness of these drugs
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Scientists develop optimal flu vaccine priorities, question federal guidelines
Researchers find that vaccines targeted at groups more likely to transmit flu viruses, rather than those at highest risk of complications, would result in fewer infections and improved survival rates
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Medical experts divided on swine flu precautions
Sixty public health officials, epidemiologists, and flu researchers worldwide about what, if any, personal precautions they have taken as the autumn flu season hits; there is no consensus
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U.S. human tests of swine flu vaccine begin
Nine academic sites in the United States will test swine flu vaccine on 2,400 volunteers; testing will involve two vaccines in five population groups and at two different strengths
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Dog likely source of deadly pneumonic plague in China
The city of Ziketan has been sealed off sine the weekend after an outbreak of pneumonic plague; the first fatality was a 32-year old herdsman — and initial tests show that the herdsman’s dead dog was the likely origin of the outbreak
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Swine flu deaths reach to 1,154
Laboratory confirmed cases world-wide have reached 162,380; WHO has estimated that 2 billion people, or one in three of the world’s population, will have been infected by the virus by the end of the pandemic
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Third patient dies of plague in remote Chinese town
Chinese authorities have sealed off a remote Chinese town after an outbreak of pneumonic plague; authorities have set up a cordon with a 17-mile radius around the town of Ziketan; public buses were pulled off the streets, and the police is patrolling on the streets, advising shops to close
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DARPA searches for instant repair of soldiers' injuries
DARPA is soliciting proposals for a device that can use adult stem cells for a regenerative free-for-all, producing whatever needed to repair injured body parts, including nerves, bone, and skin
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Anthrax attack on a U.S. metropolitan area could affect more than 1 million
No matter how well-organized and prolonged a treatment program is, it must be quickly implemented; a campaign of powerful antibiotics initiated two days after exposure would protect as many as 87 percent of exposed individuals from illness
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Nasal vaccine developed for swine flu
Maryland-based Medimmune developed a nasal vaccine for the swine flu; so far, the U.S. government has ordered 12.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine from Medimmune for $151 million and could order millions more doses
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CDC to decide today on H1N1 vaccination priorities
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets today in an emergency session to discuss which groups should be targeted to receive the pandemic H1N1 vaccine and whether some should have priority
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The long view
Combatting the Measles Threat Means Examining the Reasons for Declining Vaccination Rates
Measles was supposedly eradicated in Canada more than a quarter century ago. But today, measles is surging. The cause of this resurgence is declining vaccination rates.
Social Networks Are Not Effective at Mobilizing Vaccination Uptake
The persuasive power of social networks is immense, but not limitless. Vaccine preferences, based on the COVID experience in the United States, proved quite insensitive to persuasion, even through friendship networks.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.