Marcia Angell, MD on the Credibility of Clinical Research
No one knows the total amount [of money] provided by drug companies to physicians, but I estimate from the annual reports of the top 9 U.S.-based drug companies that it comes to tens of billions of dollars a year in North America alone. By such means, the pharmaceutical industry has gained enormous control over how doctors evaluate and use its own products. Its extensive ties to physicians, particularly senior faculty at prestigious medical schools, affect the results of research…
University of Toronto Students Protest “Alternative Health” Vaccine Course
In the spring and summer of 2015, a course offered by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto in Scarborough, Canada titled “Alternative Health: Practice and Theory” sparked an outcry among students attending the University’s medical school. The medical students alleged that the instructor, Professor Beth Landau-Halpern (photo left-hand…
Sanofi Pasteur Will Deliver 65 Million Doses of Flu Vaccine to U.S.
Vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur SA of France announced that it has released to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the first dozes of its Fluzone influenza vaccine for the 2015-2016 flu season. In a press released picked up by MarketWatch, the company said that it will ultimately produce more than 65 million doses of Fluzone for the U.S. market. Health care providers…
Larry Palevsky, MD on Herd Immunity Theory
In vaccine science, we are extrapolating or concluding that if we vaccinate a certain percentage of people, we are imparting protection on those who have not been vaccinated. And that has not been shown to be true, because the true herd immunity in theory is based on an active disease, and we know that despite what we’re taught, vaccination does not mimic the natural disease. So we cannot use the same model of herd immunity in a natural disease in the vaccination policy.
Measles: The New Red Scare
Fear. It’s a natural and primal human emotion. While human instinct is exceptional in evaluating and reacting to a natural personal risk, as in facing a predator, humans are terrible at assessing modern risks. According to Psychology Today1 this is because our ancestors were programmed to quickly react and respond to a situation before it […]
The French National Debate on Vaccine Safety
In response to growing skepticism in France about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, the French Minister of Social Affairs and Health Marisol Touraine has called for a national debate this fall on the future of vaccination in that country. Touraine, who is concerned that there is greater suspicion and “even defiance” toward vaccines among the French people, seems…
