Here’s the verbatim recommendation (from the Commission press release) about testing anthrax vaccine in kids: “Recommends that multiple steps must be taken before ethical pediatric anthrax vaccine trials can be considered by the U.S. government… In keeping with its recommendation of a strict risk limit in pre-event pediatric MCM research, the Bioethics Commission called for…

Reading 26 media reports describing the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues’ report on testing anthrax vaccine and other countermeasures in children, one learns very little: This was a really hard job for the Commission.  They had to get it precisely right.  The safety of kids is our most important priority.   The…

The Presidential Bioethics Commission Report on testing anthrax vaccine and other countermeasures on children was issued today, March 19, 2013. It was accompanied by a press release, an article in the NEJM, and a conference call with the press yesterday.  The result is many news articles, but there is confusion about what the report actually recommended….

The NY Times ‘ Donald McNeil has followed up the juicy story of how billionaire political donor Ronald Perelman got a sweetheart contract (OMG, read David Willman’s story and weep, that deal was so sweet) for a high-priced smallpox drug, which isn’t actually needed cause we have enough vaccine for every American, and if you…

Pertussis (whooping cough) cases are occasionally vaccine-resistant. Sometimes what looks like pertussis is a related disease, parapertussis, and the pertussis vaccine is useless at preventing this infection.  In fact, the vaccine may actually enhance nasal carriage with parapertussis strains. Usually, vaccine-induced protection is weak and doesn’t last long. Clearly a new vaccine that is safe…

Katherine Sebelius, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has proposed testing anthrax vaccine in children—ostensibly to protect American children in the unlikely event of an anthrax attack.[1] But no credible evidence of an impending anthrax threat has ever been cited. The only US anthrax threat, in 2001, was traced by…

I attended the Selling Sickness conference in DC 2 weeks ago and also came away impressed and morose at where my field has gone… Elizabeth Loder: How medical journals can help stop disease mongering6 Mar, 13 | by BMJ Group It would be hard to collect a more fascinating bunch of topics or people in…

The full article in the BMJ is here.  It simply confirms the same increased incidence in the UK as has been found elsewhere in countries that used Pandemrix, although initially it was said Scandinavians had very high rates of autoimmune disorders and were at higher risk than others. Given the up to 10 year interval…

Study:  Getting flu shots 2 years in a row may lower protection Robert Roos  News Editor a Mar 1, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – Experts are puzzled by a new study in which influenza vaccination seemed to provide little or no protection against flu in the 2010-11 season—and in which the only participants who seemed to benefit…

Do vaccines ramp up the immune system, sometimes to the significant detriment of patients?  Yes. Why then are they pushed so hard in patients who are especially vulnerable?  The answer relates more to the religion than to the science of vaccines. You have just had a heart transplant.  You do not want to reject your…

I am honored to be on the board of the Alliance for Human Research Protection and to be working with its dynamic President, Vera Sharav, on stopping a dangerous trial of anthrax vaccine in healthy children.    Why sacrifice healthy children for this purpose, when the vaccine does not even have a useful role in post-exposure prophylaxis…