Sen. Rand "Science" Paul: Vaccinations Can Lead To "Profound Mental Disorders"

Via NBC News:

Republican Sen. Rand Paul is standing by his statement that most vaccinations should be "voluntary," telling CNBC that a parent's choice not to vaccinate a child is "an issue of freedom." In an interview with the network Monday, Paul said that vaccines are "a good thing" but that parents "should have some input" into whether or not their children must get them. And he gave credence to the idea - disputed by the majority of the scientific community - that vaccination can lead to mental disabilities. "I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines," he said.

Vaccines Can Make Your Kids Gay

The above is from an "anti-vax" Facebook page. Source. (Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)

CDC Issues Measles Warning

Thank the anti-vaxxers.

The number of measles cases this year, as of April 18, stood at 129 compared with 189 for all of 2013. The virus is making its way into United States via international travel from other countries — particularly the Philippines — and then spreading among pockets of unvaccinated Americans, said Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, at a news conference today. Dr. Schuchat said that celebrity vaccine opponents such as Jenny McCarthy "get a lot of attention," but that the most trusted sources of information for most Americans on immunizations are their physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. "American clinicians are still strongly supporting adherence to recommendations [from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices]," she said.

Jenny McCarthy Trump

Malaria Vaccine Breakthrough Announced

A breakthrough in the search for a malaria vaccine was announced today.

A malaria vaccine has become the first to provide 100% protection against the disease, confounding critics and far surpassing any other experimental malaria vaccine tested. It will now be tested further in clinical trials in Africa. "The results are important because they demonstrate for the first time the concept that a malaria vaccine can provide a high level of protection," says Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, adding that the findings are cause for "cautious optimism". No effective malaria vaccine is available at present. The World Health Organization has set a target to develop a malaria vaccine with 80% efficacy by 2025, but until now, says Fauci, "we have not even gotten anywhere near that level of efficacy."

An estimated one million people die of malaria every year.

HPV Vaccine Cuts Infections By Half

Great early news about the HPV vaccine:

The prevalence of dangerous strains of the human papillomavirus — the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and a principal cause of cervical cancer — has dropped by half among teenage girls in recent years, a striking measure of success for a vaccine against the virus that was introduced only in 2006, federal health officials said on Wednesday. The magnitude of the decline in HPV infections surprised public health experts because only about a third of teenage girls in the United States have been vaccinated with the full course of three doses. By comparison, vaccination rates in countries like Denmark and Britain are above 80 percent. Even Rwanda, in East Africa, has reached 80 percent. Yet even with relatively low vaccination rates in the United States, infection with the viral strains that cause cancer dropped to 3.6 percent among girls ages 14 to 19 in 2010, from 7.2 percent in 2006, the officials said.

An HPV vaccine for boys was introduced in 2011.

The Cocaine Vaccine

As work progresses on the cocaine "vaccine," the aim of which is to prevent users from getting high, some are discussing whether it should be made available to parents who want to preemptively give it to their children. Right wingers have "joked" that it should be put into the water supply of public housing projects. The PBS clip below discusses results of recent vaccine testing.

New York City Begins Meningitis Vaccinations For High-Risk HIV+ Men

Today the New York City Department of Health began offering free meningitis vaccinations to high-risk HIV+ men at nine locations across the five boroughs.

The Department is advising vaccinations for any man who is HIV positive and has had intimate contact with another man that he met through a website, digital application (“App”), or at a bar or party since September 1, 2012. Vaccine will be available starting Friday at medical facilities throughout the city for men who meet these criteria but who cannot obtain it from their HIV care providers. The outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease among HIV-positive men in New York City is completely unrelated to the outbreak of meningitis in several states that is caused by a contaminated medication. Vaccination prevents but does not treat current infection. Common symptoms of meningitis are high fever, headache, stiff neck, and rash that develop rapidly upon onset. Symptoms may occur 2 to 10 days after exposure, but usually within 5 days. People who are HIV-positive and who experience these symptoms should seek medical care immediately.

There have been four deaths since this spate of cases began. We applaud the New York City government for their rapid response.

Trump: Vaccines Cause Autism

Therapeutic Universal Cancer Vaccine?

Interesting news out of Britain:

A vaccine that can train cancer patients' own bodies to seek out and destroy tumor cells has been developed by scientists. The therapy, which targets a molecule found in 90 per cent of all cancers, could provide a universal injection that allows patients' immune systems to fight off common cancers including breast and prostate cancer. Preliminary results from early clinical trials have shown the vaccine can trigger an immune response in patients and reduce levels of disease. The scientists behind the vaccine now hope to conduct larger trials in patients to prove it can be effective against a range of different cancers.

Therapeutic vaccines are meant to aid those already showing signs of disease.

Australia To Strip Tax Breaks From Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Children

Good for them.

Gardasil May Protect Against Anal Cancer

In a small study involving HIV-negative gay men, the HPV vaccine Gardasil was shown to reduce the risk of anal cancer.

The vaccine reduced the risk of lesion recurrence by approximately 50% in the first two years after immunisation. There was some evidence that the protective effects of the vaccine waned after this point. “This is the first study to demonstrate an association between Gardasil after primary disease and decreased risk of recurrent HGAIN [high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia],” comment the investigators, who believe the vaccine may be “an effective post-treatment adjuvant to prevent recurrent HGAIN.” High-risk strains of human papilloma virus are the main cause of anal and cervical cancer. The quadrivalent human papilloma virus vaccine (Gardasil) is highly effective at preventing infection with these strains. Rates of anal cancer are elevated in gay and other men who have sex with men.

As I overshared on Facebook at the time, last month my new doctor surprised me with an anal pap smear, something his practice does routinely for all gay men over 40. My result was thankfully negative, but I mention it here to reinforce how simple and brief the procedure is. Ask for it, regardless of your age. (Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

Oral Cancer Virus More Common In Men

Compared to women, more than twice as many men are infected with oral HPV. Prevalence of the cancer-causing virus increases with the number of sexual partners.

Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is more common among men than women, leading to an increased risk for men of head and neck cancers, a US study suggests. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study assessed around 5,500 people aged 14 to 69. Around 10% of men had oral HPV, compared with 3.6% of women. HPV causes the majority of cervical cancers, as well as genital and anal - and head and neck cancers. Smoking and drinking are significant known risk factors for head and neck cancers. But oral HPV infection increases cancer risk by around 50%, according to the research team from Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

It's not yet known whether the existing HPV vaccination also guards against oral HPV.

Promising Hep C Vaccine Trial

Researchers at Oxford report that their Hepatitis C vaccine trial has yielded promising results.

The aim of the Phase I trial was to determine whether the treatment was safe and to help plan future trials. Forty-one healthy patients were given the vaccine. Scientists said it produced a "very strong" immune response which lasted for at least a year and had no major side-effects. Prof Klenerman said: "The immune responses we've seen are exciting and we are beginning the next stage of trials. While we are hopeful, it could be a long road to any vaccine that protects people against hepatitis C." The next step will be to give the vaccine to people at-risk of hepatitis C infection to see whether it protects against the virus.

An estimated 170M people may be infected with Hepatitis C worldwide.

Vaccine Deniers Plan New Year's Eve Ad

Perhaps fueled by Michele "Vaccines Cause Retardation" Bachmann, a vaccine denial group plans to show their latest ad to the one million+ throng that will gather in Times Square on New Years Eve. The ad has already been running twice an hour there since last week.

“In 2012, NVIC is marking our 30th year of public education and consumer empowerment,” said NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher. “With so many health care options available today, becoming an educated health care consumer is essential and our pro-informed consent message will be seen by millions on New Year’s Eve.” The full-color LED screen on which NVIC’s ad is appearing is located near the Times Square Information Center in the heart of the Broadway district and is one of the largest digital display screens in the Times Square area. An estimated one million people pack the Times Square area during New Year’s Eve and the celebration is viewed on television by billions of people around the world.

(Via - The Friendly Atheist)

A Cocaine Vaccine?

Scientists are testing a vaccine that causes the body to treat cocaine like an attacking virus and thereby keep it away from the brain.

So far, the vaccine has only been tested on mice, but the results are extraordinary. Mice given the vaccine no longer exhibited any of the hyperactive signs of a cocaine high when they were next given the drug. The vaccine was created by taking just the part of the cold virus that alerts the body's immune system to its presence, and then researchers connected the signaling mechanism to a more stable version of the cocaine molecule.

Once the mice received an injection of the vaccine, they started producing anti-cocaine antibodies which targeted and destroyed any cocaine that then entered their system. Normally, cocaine does not produce an immune response, leaving it free to wreak havoc on the brain and body of whoever takes it. But the cold virus segments taught the immune system to treat cocaine like a hostile invader, offering a nearly impregnable wall of protection from the cocaine's effects.

All kinds of ethical implications are raised by this research, of course. For example, should it be legal for parents to immunize their children against the pleasurable effects of some drugs without ever knowing if that person was capable of responsible use?

Wingnuts Want Obama Kids Vaccinated For Swine Flu On Live Television

To prove that the shot isn't deadly. Or something.

Quote Of The Day - Louis Farrakhan

"The Earth can't take 6.5 billion people. We just can't feed that many. So what are you going to do? Kill as many as you can. We have to develop a science that kills them and makes it look as though they died from some disease." - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, saying that the swine flu vaccine was designed to kill people.

Thailand: AIDS Vaccine Breakthrough

Scientists in Thailand are reportedly "surprised" by their finding that an AIDS vaccine actually appears to work, reducing the risk of infection by 31%.

For the first time, an experimental vaccine has prevented infection with the AIDS virus, a watershed event in the deadly epidemic and a surprising result. Recent failures led many scientists to think such a vaccine might never be possible. The vaccine cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world’s largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok. Even though the benefit is modest, “it’s the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine,” Col. Jerome Kim said in a telephone interview. He helped lead the study for the U.S. Army, which sponsored it with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The institute’s director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that this is “not the end of the road,” but said he was surprised and very pleased by the outcome. “It gives me cautious optimism about the possibility of improving this result” and developing a more effective AIDS vaccine, Fauci said in a telephone interview. “This is something that we can do.” Even a marginally helpful vaccine could have a big impact. Every day, 7,500 people worldwide are newly infected with HIV; 2 million died of AIDS in 2007, the U.N. agency UNAIDS estimates. “Today marks an historic milestone,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, an international group that has worked toward developing a vaccine. “It will take time and resources to fully analyze and understand the data, but there is little doubt that this finding will energize and redirect the AIDS vaccine field,” he said in a statement.

All the vaccine's recipients were followed for three years after receiving double-blind shots, which were delivered in six doses over six months. Optimism over this development must be tempered by the low number of those protected, of course.

Canadian HIV Vaccine Ready To Begin Human Trials In U.S.

A little bit of encouraging news today.

An HIV/AIDS vaccine developed in Canada has passed safety tests in animals and the researchers are awaiting approval to begin human trials in the U.S. "It is a very important milestone for us," said Yong Kang, a professor of microbiology at the University of Western Ontario in London who has been working on the vaccine for 20 years. Kang said he expects to get the go-ahead soon from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin human toxicology tests and two phases of clinical trials in the United States. If all three trials are successful, the vaccine should be available within the next decade, Kang told CBC News on the phone while attending a meeting in South Korea.

(Tipped by JMG reader Alejandro)