Irish Philanthropist Jonathan Irwin Vows to Stand Up for Gardasil-Injured Girls
Jonathan Irwin is a former stud owner and racetrack executive who, in his mature years, devoted his life to a foundation he set up with his wife Mary Ann called the Jack and Jill Foundation. He set up the foundation in 1997 to provide in-home nursing care for severely disabled children, or babies born with life-threatening…
Expanding Vaccination Rates by Allowing More People to Give Them
In 2009, public health officials in the United States responded to a predicted “heavy flu season” by passing a regulation allowing dentists, pharmacists, paramedics, nursing students and medical students to administer the annual influenza vaccine. Since then, it has…
Syrian Children Get Polio from Oral Polio Vaccine
Three children in the Deir-Ez-Zor eastern region of Syria have contracted polio during the past three months. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on June 8, 2017 that a polio virus strain designated as vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) was found in a healthy Syrian child and two other children diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)—an acute form of paralysis. The children with AFP experienced the onset of paralysis…
Minnesota Mumps Outbreak Largest Since 2006
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has reported that the state is currently experiencing its largest mumps outbreak since 2006. MDH Information Officer Doug Shultz confirmed that 41 of the 63 cases identified statewide this year have occurred in a cluster at the University of Minnesota (UMN) Twin Cities…
Repeat Influenza Vaccination Yields Reduced Antibody Response
Multiple vaccinations may not afford better protection against influenza viruses than fewer inoculations, according to an Australian study of vaccine responses in health care workers (HCWs) reported in Vaccine. Postvaccine protective antibody titers were highest in HCWs who were vaccinated…
The Smallpox Vaccine Was No Silver Bullet
Modern beliefs and opinions about the validity of vaccine science are based on the thinking and observations of British physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823). Jenner’s experiments during the late 18th century, when he was searching for a way to prevent smallpox, gained for him widespread fame as the father of immunology. Jenner formulated his theory…