“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”
— William Wilberforce
Flu season is creeping up on us again and there are widespread calls to get your annual flu shot, despite the fact that, year after year, this strategy turns out to have an abysmal rate of effectiveness across the board. One group that consistently turns out to draw the short end of the stick when […]
Prescription drugs help many people and even save lives. But use of prescription drugs as prescribed is also a leading cause of death in the U.S. Are some pharmaceutical companies skirting TV ad rules so that they don’t have to disclose side effects of some vaccines and other prescription medicine? Some critics say “yes.” And […]
On Aug. 6, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement saying that Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG submitted a biologics license application (BLA) for the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) gene therapy Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi) with manipulated data and failed to inform regulators until June 28, 2019—more than a month after the […]
This year has brought a great deal of attention to mandated vaccines. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spend billions in taxpayer money trying to convince consumers that vaccines are safe and effective—yet they are neither safe nor effective for all. The continued […]
Story Highlights Scientists are working on a vaccine for autoimmune, inflammation-induced mental health issues using soil-derived bacteria. Vaccines have been implicated in increasing the risk for neuropsychiatric issues in children. Vaccines and all other immune-system activators act by provoking an inflammatory response. Christopher Lowry, PhD and a team of researchers from the University of Colorado […]
In response to the current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which began in August 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). There have been about 2,500 confirmed cases of Ebola in the DRC and at least 1,737 people have […]
Story Highlights A new Lyme disease vaccine candidate approved by the FDA using the fast track process is currently in its second phase of clinical trials. In 1998, the FDA granted licensure for a Lyme disease vaccine called LYMErix. Following reports of severe adverse reactions to LYMErix, GlaxoSmithKline (formerly SmithKline Beecham) withdrew the vaccine from […]
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD has joined the board of directors of Pfizer, Inc.—the world’s largest pharmaceutical company and second largest manufacturer of vaccines. Pfizer, which posted total revenues of $53.7 billion in 2018, announced Dr. Gottlieb’s election to the board on June 27, 2019.1 2 3 4 Dr. Gottlieb, […]
A four-and-a-half-month girl died in India on June 15, 2019 a day after she was given the “five-in-one” pentavalent vaccine (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B) at a rural child care center in the village of Kudluru, India.1 2 Soon after she was vaccinated, the baby developed a fever. When the […]
An outbreak of mumps in 12 fully vaccinated students attending University of Florida, Gainesville campus had county health officials scratching their heads at the end of May. According to one media report, an Alachua County Health Department spokesperson said, “These things do happen. It’s a phenomenon that’s not completely understood,” and reassured students and the […]