Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Experimental TB vaccine does not protect infants, study shows

"Hopes that a much needed new tuberculosis [TB] vaccine was on the way, the first for 90 years, have been dashed by trial results showing it did not protect babies against the disease," the Guardian reports.

6 Feb 2013

TB vaccine candidate trial results are 'landmark' in fight against disease

"Today marks an important landmark for the fight against tuberculosis (TB)," with the publication in the Lancet of clinical trial results showing the TB vaccine candidate MVA85A "was no more effective in protecting infants from developing pulmonary TB than" the standard Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, Peggy Johnston, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

6 Feb 2013

U.S. should issue formal ban on using vaccination campaigns as cover for intelligence operations

In an opinion piece in Bloomberg Businessweek's "Small World" blog, Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and the New America Foundation, examines the effects of "a fake polio vaccination drive organized by the CIA in an effort to collect DNA from [Osama] bin Laden's family" on polio immunization efforts in Pakistan.

5 Feb 2013

Injection-free vaccination technique shows promise

Study findings show that a new injection-free vaccination technique, applied through a patch on the skin, can induce the same level of immune response as a standard vaccine injection when given to mice.

5 Feb 2013

Results from Merck’s Vorinostat phase 1 trial on lymphoma

Patients whose aggressive lymphomas have relapsed or failed to respond to the current front-line chemotherapy regimen now have an effective second line of attack against their disease.

5 Feb 2013

GAVI Alliance to fund HPV immunization projects in 8 countries

The GAVI Alliance "is to help protect more than 180,000 girls in eight countries across Africa and Asia from cervical cancer by funding immunization projects with vaccines from Merck and GlaxoSmithKline," Reuters reports in an article examining the group's efforts to vaccinate young women with Merck's Gardasil and GSK's Cervarix, "the world's only two approved shots designed to protect against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes the vast majority of cervical cancer cases."

5 Feb 2013

State officials, policy experts mull health law implementation issues

The Medicaid expansion continues to trigger significant debate and discussion among state officials.

5 Feb 2013

Loyola Flu Central now available on LUHS web site

Loyola Flu Central, a weekly snapshot of flu activity locally, regionally and nationally is now available on the Loyola University Health System web site, through Twitter and on Facebook.

5 Feb 2013

MSF claims aid for vaccines subsidizing pharmaceutical companies, Guardian reports

"Large sums of public money intended to ensure children in the developing world are immunized against disease are effectively being used to subsidize Big Pharma, doctors working in the field claim," the Guardian reports.

5 Feb 2013

India's success in fighting polio shows what country is capable of with proper funding, accountability

"India's successful war on polio shows what can happen when its government sets clear policy goals backed with proper funding and real accountability," journalist and author Dan Morrison writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog.

5 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: Obama's 'olive branch' on birth control coverage; Sen. Kirk recounts his stroke therapy; Nurses oppose mandatory flu shots

The Obama administration released the final details Friday of the exemption it will provide religious-affiliated employers from the requirement to include free birth control in employees' insurance policies. Not surprisingly, the announcement didn't seem to mollify any of the critics who'd been arguing that the exemption was inadequate.

4 Feb 2013

Reduced dose of polio vaccine feasible in low-income areas

Vaccinating infants with a single fractional dose of inactivated poliovirus is an effective and more affordable alternative to using multiple full doses, report researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine.

4 Feb 2013

Measles: an interview with Dr. Robert Perry, World Health Organization

Measles is a disease marked by fever, rash, and cold symptoms (red eyes, cough, runny nose) that results in a temporary suppression of the immune system and a drop in vitamin A levels.

4 Feb 2013

Researchers await clinical trial results of potential TB vaccine, expected early next week

"After nearly 100 years, researchers could be on the verge of finding a vaccine that would eradicate tuberculosis [TB] infections," Reuters reports, noting, "Global health experts are eagerly awaiting clinical trial results, expected early next week, of the first new vaccine in 90 years designed to prevent tuberculosis infections."

2 Feb 2013

FDA announces federal judge approval of Ben Venue consent decree

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that a federal judge has approved a consent decree of permanent injunction against Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc., and three of its corporate officers for failing to comply with current good manufacturing practice requirements as required by federal law.

2 Feb 2013

State roundup: Texas lawmakers ready health budget

Texas budget writers got a briefing on the state's health care programs Wednesday, and many of the biggest questions focused on how the state can reduce fraud and what to do about ever-increasing health care costs.

1 Feb 2013

Ten common notions concerning colds and flu

The cold and flu season has hit early and hard this year. As the number of people infected continues to increase, so does the number of internet searches for ways to prevent or limit the duration of viral illnesses. But, what is fact and what is fiction?

1 Feb 2013

Two-step personalized immunotherapy safe for patients with ovarian cancer

Most ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed with late stage disease that is unresponsive to existing therapies. In a new study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that a two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment - a dendritic cell vaccine using patients' own tumor followed by adoptive T cell therapy - triggers anti-tumor immune responses in these type of patients.

1 Feb 2013

Study examines effects of partial dose of polio vaccine on immune response

"A partial dose of polio vaccine was as good as a full one in providing a basic level of immunity against the crippling disease, according to a study that may offer poor countries a cheap, effective way of ensuring the disease doesn't return after it's eradicated in an area," Bloomberg reports.

1 Feb 2013

Over half of countries struggling to prevent and manage cancer

More than half of all countries worldwide are struggling to prevent cancer and provide treatment and chronic care to cancer patients, warns a recent World Health Organization (WHO) survey for World Cancer Day. This means, currently many of these countries do not have a functional cancer control plan that includes prevention, early detection, treatment and care. There is an urgent need to help countries to reduce cancer deaths and provide appropriate long-term treatment and care to avoid human suffering and protect countries’ social and economic development.

1 Feb 2013