Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Opinion pieces examine role of private sector investment in global health

The following opinion pieces were published Saturday as the World Economic Forum, held last week in Davos, Switzerland, came to a close.

29 Jan 2013

Common myths about flu from Mayo Clinic

It seems you can't go anywhere these days without hearing "the flu this" or "the flu that." Unfortunately, this season's influenza outbreak is one of the worst in years. And it's not just the flu virus that's causing problems; there are also many myths about the flu that are keeping people from doing more to prevent it.

29 Jan 2013

Regular deep-fried food consumption may increase risk of prostate cancer

Regular consumption of deep-fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease, according to a study by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

29 Jan 2013

Military women more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections: Study

As the number of women in the military increases, so does the need for improved gynecologic care. Military women may be more likely to engage in high-risk sexual practices, be less likely to consistently use barrier contraception, and, therefore, more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to research recently released by a physician at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.

29 Jan 2013

New DNA-delivering film holds promise for improving effectiveness of vaccines

Vaccines usually consist of inactivated viruses that prompt the immune system to remember the invader and launch a strong defense if it later encounters the real thing. However, this approach can be too risky with certain viruses, including HIV.

29 Jan 2013

Rotavirus vaccination in children impacts on adults

Vaccinating children against rotavirus should be encouraged, say researchers, following findings that the prevalence of the disease has recently halved among unvaccinated adults in the USA.

28 Jan 2013

'Vaccine diplomacy' could reduce disease burden on Korean Peninsula

"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a New Year's Day speech, called for reductions in international tension and an end to confrontation with South Korea, while raising the prospect of reunification between the North and South," Peter Hotez, president and director of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, notes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, asking, "Could 'vaccine diplomacy' work on the Korean peninsula?."

28 Jan 2013

Examining benefits of vaccine investment

Writing in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Joe Cerrell, director of the foundation's Europe office, and David Ferreira, managing director for innovative finance and head of the Washington, D.C., office at the GAVI Alliance, examine the benefits of investing in vaccines, stating, "Funding and supporting the delivery of life-saving vaccines is one proven way that the private sector can obtain measurable, long-term, and extremely cost-effective results."

28 Jan 2013

Dengue fever mosquitoes tap into domestic networks of humans, along with their bloodstreams

The mosquitoes that spread dengue fever tap into the domestic networks of humans, along with their bloodstreams, finds a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

28 Jan 2013

FDA approves Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 to prevent pneumococcal disease in older children, adolescents

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for the expansion of the company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]), for use in older children and adolescents aged 6 years through 17 years for active immunization for the prevention of invasive disease caused by the 13 Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes contained in the vaccine.

28 Jan 2013

High vaccine prices ignored by ‘Decade of Vaccines’ blueprint

Governments meeting at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board (WHO EB) this week must seize the opportunity to improve serious shortcomings in the document that will drive the global community’s vaccines response in the next few years. If they fail to do so, key reasons why children continue to be missed by immunisation programmes will be left unaddressed.

25 Jan 2013

Pediatric rotavirus vaccination indirectly protects unvaccinated adults

Pediatric rotavirus vaccination also indirectly protects unvaccinated adults from the highly contagious cause of severe diarrhea and vomiting, suggests a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online.

25 Jan 2013

Madagascar faces challenges in vaccinating children

"In Madagascar, pneumonia is responsible for 21 percent of deaths among children under five years old -- making it the leading cause of death for this age group," but "[t]he recent introduction of a vaccine to protect against pneumococcal disease, the leading cause of severe childhood pneumonia, is attempting to reduce the thousands of child deaths that occur every year in" the country, IRIN reports.

24 Jan 2013

Indian company plans to make lower-cost injectable polio vaccine

Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, plans to "slash the price of polio immunization and introduce shots for diarrhea and pneumonia, undercutting Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc.," Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

24 Jan 2013

NIH's candidate vaccine safe in treating dengue

A candidate dengue vaccine developed by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been found to be safe and to stimulate a strong immune response in most vaccine recipients, according to results from an early-stage clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. The trial results were published online on January 17 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

23 Jan 2013

New apatamer can boost therapeutic effect of cell-based vaccines

A small compound called an aptamer that specifically targets and stimulates a human immune cell can greatly increase the effectiveness of an immunotherapeutic drug designed to destroy malignant or virus-infected cells. The development of a novel apatamer that recognizes activated T-lymphocytes and can boost the therapeutic effect of cell-based vaccines is described in an article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers.

23 Jan 2013

Salk Institute to establish Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has received a $42 million gift-the largest in the Institute's history-to establish the Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine (HCGM), a research center dedicated to decoding the common genetic factors underlying many complex chronic human diseases.

23 Jan 2013

$30 for a flu shot: An outrage or a bargain?

The Los Angeles Times looks at the economics of producing a successful flu vaccine each year. And Reuters explores what may be on the horizon to improve those immunizations.

23 Jan 2013

Cytos announces Novartis termination from NIC002 smoking cessation project

Cytos Biotechnology Ltd today announced that Novartis will discontinue the NIC002 project, which is a therapeutic vaccine candidate for the treatment of nicotine addiction.

23 Jan 2013

Health workers resume polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan; Bill Gates discusses polio efforts in interview

"Health workers are back on the streets of Peshawar in Pakistan, defying death threats so they can vaccinate children against polio," Al Jazeera reports. "Nine of their colleagues were killed last month, and now they have been given extra security," the news service notes. "Despite the risks, many health workers say they must carry out this important task," Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid states in an accompanying video.

23 Jan 2013