WHO Names 17 Pathogens as Top Priorities for Global Vaccine Development

A new World Health Organization (WHO) study published in eBioMedicine last week highlights 17 viral and bacterial pathogens that are major sources of endemic disease around the world and that WHO officials believe should be urgently prioritized for vaccine development. The study marks the WHO’s first global effort to systematically prioritize endemic pathogens with epidemic […]
Vaccines Rely on Horseshoe Crab’s Blue Blood for Purity

Every spring, 500,000 Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs are collected by four biopharmaceutical companies as they crawl to the mid-Atlantic beaches to lay their eggs. The helmet-shaped arthropods are placed upside down on a rack, and a sterile needle is inserted near the heart to collect about 30 percent of their blood.1 2 The crabs are returned […]
Is a Bill Requiring Your Children to Get Every CDC Recommended Vaccination Coming to Your State?

As vaccine-related bills are being introduced into state legislatures this month, a bill (HB1090) has been proposed in the Virginia legislature to require school children to receive every dose of all current and future vaccines added to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) appointed by the U.S. Centers […]
A Glimpse of the World Before Vaccines

A common historical theme has emerged in many recent articles about this year’s measles outbreak in the United States. It is perhaps best exemplified by the headline in an opinion piece in National Geographic magazine: “The world before vaccines is a world we can’t afford to forget.” The theme is meant to emphasize the importance […]