Influenza-COVID Combo Vaccine Trial Halted Over Safety Concerns
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put a hold on Novavax’s COVID-influenza combination vaccine and standalone influenza vaccines being tested in clinical trials after a participant reported nerve damage following receipt of the experimental vaccine in January 2024.1 Reported symptoms were diagnosed as motor neuropathy, a disease process that can be acquired, hereditary […]
Are Influenza Vaccine Failures One Reason for Declining Flu Shot Uptake?
The rates of adults and children in the United States receiving influenza vaccinations have been steadily declining in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the 2019-2020 “flu season,” 63.7 percent of American children between six months to 17 years of age received flu shots, compared to 55.4 […]
Vaccines, Doses & Shots. Confused?
In a phone conversation with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. regarding childhood vaccinations last month, Donald Trump said: When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is, like, 38 different vaccines and it looks like it’s been for a horse. Not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby. And then you see the baby all […]
WHO Prequalifies Takeda’s Qdenga Dengue Vaccine
On May 10, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) granted prequalification status to the Qdenga (TAK-003) dengue vaccine, developed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. The live attenuated virus vaccine is recommended to be given in two doses three months apart to children six to 16 years old living in areas where dengue […]
Influenza Vaccines Only 42 Percent Effective in Adults This Year
The influenza vaccines currently being administered in the United States are estimated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be 42 percent effective in adults. This is an interim estimate for the 2023-2024 “flu season” published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on Feb. 29, 2024.1 2 3 […]
Pharma Developing Bird Flu Vaccine for Humans As Animals Get Sick
Pharmaceutical companies GSK (formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline), Moderna and CSL Seqirus announced that they are developing and ready to test human vaccines against avian influenza H5N1 (also known as bird flu) as a precautionary measure to prepare for what they believe may be a future pandemic.1 Now that certain strains of H5N1 have infected not […]
