CDC’s ACIP Vaccine Advisory Panel Lacks Leader and Voting Members
Opinion | In making decisions about which vaccines should or should not be given to people and when developing childhood, adolescent and adult vaccination schedules, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) heavily relies on recommendations provided by an outside group of 15 medical and public health professionals, who make up a panel known […]
Polio Case in New York Caused by “Vaccine-Derived” Poliovirus
Opinion | The first reported case of polio in the United States since 2013 was confirmed in New York last week. According to New York health officials, a young adult in Rockland County contracted type 2 “vaccine-derived” poliovirus (VDPV2), which may have been transmitted by someone who received the Sabin live attenuated oral polio vaccine (OPV). […]
There is No Autism Epidemic?
The prevalence of autism among children in the United States in the 1960s was estimated at 1 in 10,000. By the 1980s, prevalence of the neurological condition had increased to about 2 in 10,000 children. By the 1990s, the rate under the broader classification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was estimated at 1 in 2,500 […]
Growing Number of Universities Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination
More than 50 universities across the United States have announced they will require students to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to attend in-person classes or on campus activities this fall.1 Among these institutions of higher learning are Brown University, Cleveland State University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Montclair State University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, […]
FDA Opposes COVID-19 Vaccination Dose and Schedule Changes to Vaccinate More People
Only two weeks after the first experimental biologic for SARS-CoV-2 became available, the U.S. was more than 16 millions doses behind Operation Warp Speed’s goal of giving COVID-19 vaccines to 20 million people by the end of 2020.1 Responding to the slow rollout, Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui, MD proposed giving half-doses to […]
AstraZeneca Halts, Resumes COVID-19 Vaccine Trial After Serious Neurological Event
News update, Sept. 15, 2020—U.S. regulators paused AstraZeneca’s vaccine trial in the U.S. while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launches an investigation of its own into a serious side effect in an unnamed patient in Britain. “The highest levels of NIH are very concerned,” said Dr. Avindra Nath, intramural clinical director and a leader […]