Physicians in France Question Vaccine Safety: Mainstream Media Blackout
There have been a number of articles floating around the internet claiming that France is opting out of vaccines. I could not find a credible source to back up this information, however, and from what I’ve examined, it does not seem to hold true. There is, nevertheless a demonstrably harsh resistance to vaccines among the general population and a significant portion…
Quick Facts on a Smorgasbord of Dietary Therapies (Part I)
The Elimination Diet, the Anti-inflammatory Diet, Wheat Belly, GAPS, DASH, Gerson, Paleo, Mediterranean, Atkins… As the importance of diet in the preventing chronic inflammation and disease gains attention, a host of dietary remedies have been suggested in hopes of combating and, hopefully, reversing the negative effects on health of the modern age. In fact, so many…
Barbara Loe Fisher on the Lack of Vaccine Safety Science
There is an astonishing lack of basic scientific knowledge about how viral and bacterial vaccines, given in combination, act to disrupt brain and immune-system function in the human body at the cellular and molecular levels. Pre-licensure studies conducted by industry to demonstrate the safety of new vaccines rarely study large numbers of children given the experimental vaccine in combination with other vaccines, and follow-up for serious health problems following vaccination…
Statins May Weaken the Effect of the Flu Vaccine
If you’re taking statin cholesterol-lowering drugs, you should know that this may weaken your body’s response to the flu vaccine. In those over 65 who received a flu shot, researchers found antibody concentrations were between 38% and 67% lower than those in people not taking statins. Among younger individuals a weakened response was also seen. Those who received a flu shot and were taking statins were 11% more likely to develop a respiratory illness that required medical attention compared to those not taking the drugs. It’s thought that statins’ anti-inflammatory properties may be responsible for lowering the immune system’s response to the vaccine.
NASA Studying Vaccination and Immune Response During Extended Spaceflight
NASA is conducting research to determine how the human immune system changes during extended crewed spaceflight missions and how to “counterbalance” these changes through vaccination. The study is led by investigator Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, as part of NASA’s Twins Study. It involves astronauts and identical twin brothers Scott and Mark Kelly—the former of which is currently aboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) on a one-year mission, which began on…
More People Opting Out of Flu Vaccine in the United Kingdom
Last year, the flu vaccine in the United Kingdom was even more of a failure than in the U.S. In the U.K., during the 2014-15 flu season the flu vaccine was only 3% effective. The Conversation described this as “one bad year,” but even during a good year the effectiveness is usually around 50%, which means whether or not it will protect you amounts to the flip of a coin. So it’s no wonder that this year the U.K. is seeing low uptake of the vaccine—influenza vaccination rates are down 6% compared to last year. Vaccination rates are even low among groups considered to be most vulnerable to the flu, such as the elderly, children under 5 and…