Two Children Die After Polio Vaccination, Four in Critical Condition in Pakistan
Two children in the Tehsil Bara area of the Khyber Agency tribal region in Pakistan reportedly died last week “moments” after receiving the live oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Another 11 children, who had been administered the vaccine in Tehsil Bara, fell unconscious and were taken to Hayatabad hospital in the city of Peshawar. Four of the…
Merck’s Ebola Vaccine, A Christmas Gift for the World: Really?
The media is in a tizzy over the recent trial results of Merck’s experimental Ebola vaccine, rVSV-ZEBOV (recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Zaire Ebola Virus). “New Ebola Vaccine Gives 100 Percent Protection,” reads a headline in The New York Times. The headline in Science Alert sounds even more conclusive… “It’s Official: We Finally Have…
Should Doctors Lose Their License Over a Difference of Opinion?
The art of medicine. It’s the cornerstone of medical practice. If medicine were all science, and only science, then we wouldn’t need human beings as doctors. We could just use computers. Or robots. They’d probably do better if medicine were simply the act of decision-making based purely on facts. How much easier would medicine…
Scapegoating Anti-Vaxxers for the Mumps Outbreaks: How Predictable
Wanna see an example of superbly unscientific, unreferenced, and ridiculously biased opinion writing? Take a look at Steven Salzburg’s piece in Forbes magazine titled “Anti-Vax Movement To Blame For Quadrupling Of Mumps Cases This Year”. It’s a doozy, particularly given that Salzburg himself (in the comment section)…
HPV Vaccination for 12-Year-Old Girls—Make Up Your Own Mind
If you are the parent or guardian of a 12-year-old girl in Ireland, this may concern you. When your child is in her first year of secondary school, you will receive home a leaflet from the HSE. It will contain information about the HPV vaccine, which is recommended for her and which, it claims, will […]
Naled Spraying in South Carolina to Combat Zika Kills Millions of Honeybees
Early on a Sunday morning this past summer, the noxious pesticide Naled was sprayed over Dorchester County, South Carolina in an effort to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are believed to transmit the Zika virus. In collateral damage, the aerial spray also killed millions of honeybees. One local beekeeper, who lost 2.5 million bees in a matter of minutes, described the toll as devastating, saying her bee farm “looks like it’s been nuked.” Dorchester County administrator Jason Ward…