Two Children Die After Polio Vaccination, Four in Critical Condition in Pakistan
Two children in the Tehsil Bara area of the Khyber Agency tribal region in Pakistan reportedly died last week “moments” after receiving the live oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Another 11 children, who had been administered the vaccine in Tehsil Bara, fell unconscious and were taken to Hayatabad hospital in the city of Peshawar. Four of the…
Study: Flu Vaccine Does Not Reduce School Absenteeism
Findings from a recent study published in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses reveals that getting the flu vaccine does not reduce the number of school days missed by children who get influenza. The conclusion of the study questions how often the flu vaccine actually prevents severe type A or type B influenza among children between the ages of five to 17 years old.
Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Plaguing Children Stumps CDC
As of September 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 89 cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), also often referred to as Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), a neurological disease whose symptoms resemble those of poliovirus and non-polio enteroviruses, but for which no cause or treatment is known. The CDC recorded its first case of AFM in August of 2014.
Acute Flaccid Myelitis and Routine Childhood Vaccinations: This is Nothing New
In the last several weeks there has been a growing concern about the number of children who have developed Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM), which the media has reported is a “mysterious polio-like illness.” Daniel Ramirez died on Sunday, Oct. 30, after being hospitalized for two weeks with paralysis. The doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital…
Allergens in Vaccines Are Causing Life-Threatening Food Allergies
It would probably surprise few people to hear that food allergies are increasingly common in U.S. children and around the world. According to one public health website, food allergies in children aged 0-17 in the U.S. increased by 50 percent from 1997 to 2011. Although food allergies are now so widespread as to have become almost normalized, it is…
CDC Admits Flu Shots Fail Half the Time
Americans have never been big fans of flu shots. During the 2009 “swine flu” influenza A pandemic, only about 40 percent of adults bothered to roll up their sleeves. In the 2014-2015 flu season, flu vaccine rates were still just 47 percent for adults but pediatricians had vaccinated 75 percent of children under two years old. Perhaps it is because parents are being thrown…