Healthy Volunteers in Canada Paid to Be Infected With Influenza in Government-Funded Research
A new study registered with ClinicalTrials.gov is deliberately exposing healthy adults to a live influenza A(H3N2) virus in Canada. Health Canada’s Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate has approved the H3N2 challenge strain for use in humans specifically for the purposes of the study. The study is not evaluating a vaccine or other biologic, rather it’s […]
Tamiflu Found to Be Ineffective, May Increase Mortality in Patients Critically Ill With Influenza
A randomized clinical trial posted as a preprint on July 27, 2026, found that treatment with oseltamivir, commonly known by the brand name Tamiflu, is not only ineffective, but highly likely to increase 90-day mortality in critically ill patients with influenza. Researchers enrolled 442 critically ill patients aged 12 and older with laboratory-confirmed influenza between […]
Flu Vaccine Only 36 Percent Effective This Year
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the 2025–2026 influenza vaccine showed reduced effectiveness compared to previous seasons. Researchers linked the lower performance to the emergence of a new influenza A(H3N2) subclade that differed from the strain used to manufacture the vaccine.1 The CDC reported overall flu shot effectiveness at 36 […]
U.K. School Lockdowns Return Amid “Super Flu” Surge Reports
A “super-flu” strain is being reported across the United Kingdom, prompting several schools to close and increasing admissions to hospitals as influenza infection rates rise.1 The outbreak involves a mutation of the influenza A virus known as either H3N2 or as subclade K, emerging earlier in the winter than usual and contributing to disruption across […]
ACIP Majority Ignores Risks and Recommends Infants Get Merck’s RSV Monoclonal Antibody
On June 25, 2025, the majority of members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) ignored risk warnings and voted for a recommendation that infants be given Merck & Co.’s monoclonal antibody, clesrovimab, marketed as Enflonsia. The committee advised using Enflonsia to prevent Respiratory Syncytial Virus […]
ACIP Considers Changes to HPV Vaccine Recommendations
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current universal use recommendation for the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine is two doses given to adolescent by ages 11-12 and three doses if the series is started on or after age 15. The vaccine can be given to children as young as age nine, but that […]