Just under half of all children who survive meningitis caused by group B Streptococcus will suffer in later years, new research…
Protesters carry portraits of Osama bin Laden on his first death anniversary, during an anti-US rally in Quetta, Pakistan, 02 May 2012.
Musa Farman/AAP
We’ve been reminded this month of the United States’ success in finally finding Osama bin Laden. But one thing missing in the media coverage was the allegation that the CIA established a fake hepatitis…
Infants too young to receive the whooping cough vaccine are at greatest risk.
flickr/rifqy
Recent news reports say the free whooping cough vaccine for parents to protect newborns will be discontinued because it is not effective. Parents who’ve been told this is an important step to protect their…
We hear it all the time: “I don’t want a flu vaccine. It gives you the flu.” The old, the young, and even health professionals make this claim. And it’s usually followed by a personal example like, “the…
Three-year-old Lewis Murphy nearly died from whooping cough when he contracted the disease at five-weeks-old.
AAP/Petrina Berry
A new strain of whooping cough that appears to be resistant to vaccination could take Australia’s four-year epidemic into a dangerous new phase, researchers have warned. A team led by scientists at The…
The community should look after the few unfortunate casualties of highly successful immunisation programs.
Sarah Gilbert
Reports on people suffering an adverse reaction to immunisation focus on the suffering of one over the safety of many. But immunisation benefits the whole community so we should all bear responsibility…
Today’s findings say nothing about the factual nature of the AVN’s information.
Gates Foundation
The Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) today won its Supreme Court appeal against the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), which had ordered the anti-vaccination network to warn that its website…
Sometimes it only takes one or two powerfully conveyed stories of disease affliction to spur people into getting their vaccinations.
AAP
Whenever stories about vaccination hit the headlines, just how deeply we value vaccines becomes strikingly clear. Whether it’s the celebration of new vaccines, the outrage at disease outbreaks, or the…
All vaccines rely on generating an immune response that persists but our understanding of immune memory has some way to go.
James Gathany/CDC
Influenza is never off the news agenda for long. If it’s not the flu season (and it always is in one hemisphere) and the attendant calls for vaccinations, it’s news about vaccines causing problems or new…
Current vaccines are quite good but they offer no protection against novel pandemic strains of the flu.
Jason Rogers
Influenza is never off the news agenda for long. If it’s not the flu season (and it always is in one hemisphere) and the attendant calls for vaccinations, it’s news about vaccines causing problems or new…
Case closed: the MMR vaccine has no relationship with autism.
Few medical myths have spread as feverishly and contributed to so much preventable illness than the theory that the triple measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine might be linked to autism. The tale…
Michelle Bachmann is not an authority on HPV vaccination but may negatively influence the vaccine’s uptake in the United States.
Gage Skidmore
Michele Bachmann’s unfounded statement about HPV vaccination and mental retardation couldn’t be further from the truth. But the damage her statements may cause is even more disturbing than what she says…
There’s a temporal link between autism being diagnosed and children getting several vaccinations.
nealeanddalissa/Flickr
The lack of scientific literacy in the media causes much harm to public understanding of the role and importance of vaccines. The latest instance revives the same old fears using the same formula that…
Every year outbreaks of influenza in aged-care facilities create major disruption.
Alyssa L. Miller
Flu outbreaks in nursing homes can lead to pneumonia, stroke and heart attacks among elderly residents. Staff are a major potential source of infection, but only around one in five get an annual flu shot…
Emergency medicine specialist Chris Baggoley has been appointed Australia’s new Chief Medical Officer, after acting in the role since April. The Chief Medical Officer works out of the Department of Health…
Chiropractors may be good at what they do but immunisation is not their field.
Planetc1/Flickr
The publication by Australian Doctor of a controversial public lecture given earlier this year by Sydney chiropractor, Nimrod Weiner, has created a flurry of criticism about the lecture, particularly regarding…
Ian Barr, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
Have you ever wondered why you need to get an influenza vaccination each year to protect yourself? Or even why it seems like another pandemic threat is announced before every flu season? Well, it’s all…
People with chronic medical conditions and others in high-risk groups should get a flu shot.
mcfarlandmo/Wikimedia Commons
The number of people suffering from influenza in Australia this year has soared compared to recorded numbers from previous years, with nearly 8,000 cases so far compared to about 2,000 last year. We don’t…
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand