Flu vaccine is being recommended for the entire US population over 6 months of age, starting this year. The (non-live) vaccines will contain 3 antigens, one of which is the antigen used for swine flu vaccines since late 2009. In 2009, DHHS Secretary Sibelius issued a Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act waiver of liability…

Excerpts from today’s NY Times make clear the Afghans we are supposed to be helping do not appreciate us, to put it mildly. KABUL, Afghanistan — The deaths of at least 66 soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen have made July the deadliest-ever month for American troops in the nine-year war in Afghanistan. The tally includes…

 From the Washington Post: The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation. … what officials portray as a technical clarification designed to remedy…

Excerpts from the NY Times article titled, “Budget Chief Tried to Tilt Power to Executive Branch” by Matthew Bai: Taken together, all of these proposals would seem to represent a clear exertion of executive power over the legislative branch from an administration that was supposed to have been more deferential to Congressional prerogatives. Somewhere along…

The Dutch health minister overbought swine flu vaccine, ignoring official advice of authorities in Holland.  What did WHO recommend at that point in time?  From Dutch News: Health minister Ab Klink ignored advice from both the Dutch vaccine and public health institutes when he bought 34 million doses of swine flu vaccine last year, RTL…

When we seem to be providing the operating expenses for those who bomb and shoot our children, what is the point of this war? From the Guardian: … The leaks have focused attention on Afghanistan at a time when the Obama administration would rather concentrate on the economy – the main issue among voters –…

From the BBC: Nine billion dollars “from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas, and some frozen Saddam Hussein-era assets” should have been in “a special fund administered by the US Department of Defense, the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), and was earmarked for reconstruction projects. But the report says that a lack of proper…

Ninety-two thousand Wikileaks documents were provided in advance of their public release today to the NY Times, the Guardian (UK) and Der Spiegel (Germany).  The NY Times opens with this comment:  A trove of military documents made public on Sunday by an organization called WikiLeaks reflects deep suspicions among American officials that Pakistan’s military spy…

From the Express: … Dr Fletcher, a highly ­respected retired pathologist and former chief scientific officer at the Department of Health, said: ‘‘From all the considerable reports I have read, Dr Kelly did not lose enough blood to cause his death. “He would have had to lose three to four pints of blood but all…

There has been almost no swine flu in the southern hemisphere so far this winter.  Finally WHO will announce we are in the post-pandemic phase.  From Bloomberg: … More than $14 billion was spent on vaccines and medicines to fight the germ, which shared features of the Spanish flu of 1918 while causing little more…

An FDA inspection uncovered multiple significant deviations from standard manufacturing processes, termed “good manufacturing practices” at CSL (previously known as Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, and previously an Australian government lab) in its manufacture of flu vaccine for the US market.  As is standard in these cases, a disclaimer was made to the effect that there is…

 Gardiner Harris @ the NY Times follows up on the FDA Avandia review: A federal medical advisory panel recommended Wednesday that Avandia, a controversial diabetes drug, should either be withdrawn from the market or have sales severely restricted because it increases the risks of heart attacks. The panel’s votes, taken after two days of intensive…

A letter to the BMJ questions the rationale for using certain new vaccines in India that fail to “result in significant reduction in disease burden” when older, cheaper and proven vaccines costing less than US $1.00 total per child are not being given to half the children in India. The letter also unmasks a scam…

The NY Times’ Gardiner Harris has covered a crucial issue unpinning the use of drugs in modern medical practice.  As I point out on the left side of this blog:  “Clinical data generated or presented by the manufacturers of drugs, vaccines and devices cannot be trusted: there are hundreds of studies proving this. But this…

French physician and pharmacoepidemiologist Marc Girard has penned a fiery letter to the BMJ about medical experts, clinical guidelines, drug regulation and the role of Pharma in creating a market for swine flu and hepatitis B vaccines.  Not to be missed, here are two excerpts: …how, during the development of a vaccine targeted against a…

Dramatic new testimony has heaped pressure on ministers to reopen the investigation into the death of Dr David Kelly. A female colleague claims that the UN weapons inspector could not have committed suicide as claimed, as he was too weak to cut his own wrist. Mai Pedersen, a U.S. Air Force officer who served with…

From the Washington Post: …frustration with the war is so widespread that two lawmakers in charge of shepherding the bill through the House, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who heads the Rules Committee that establishes the procedures for votes on legislation, both said that the war is unwinnable and…

According to the AP. in the US, “the government placed three orders last year for a combined total of nearly 200 million doses — an unprecedented amount and almost double the amount of vaccine made in recent years for seasonal flu.“ About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has…