It seems that the Ministry of Health is now concerned that women may get the wrong message and think that they no longer need regular cervical smears after they have had the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil. The MacDoctor wishes to point out that he made this exact point nearly two years ago. He wonders how [...]

In a move that defies all logic, the FDA advisory panel investigating the contamination of Rotavirus vaccine with pig virus has recommended that vaccine use be continued because “The vaccines offer a clear public health benefit that far outweighs a “theoretical” risk from PCV (Porcine Circo-virus)”. How very reassuring. Not. PCV type 1 was found [...]

Australia’s chief medical officer, Jim Bishop has announced that children under five years old should not receive the flu vaccine. Apparently at least 60 children under the age of 5 have had high fevers and 23 have had convulsions shortly after receiving the vaccine. I have not heard any advisory from the New Zealand authorities [...]

New Zealand is now contemplating using the same set of incentives to boost immunisation rates that Australia used to boost it’s rates from 50% to 91%. The MacDoctor is not convinced that New Zealanders will respond quite as well as Australians to the incentives. The incentives were: Cash payments to parents for completing immunisations at [...]

The Timaru Herald has run an article on the website offtheradar.co.nz, who are calling for the removal of Gardasil from the vaccination regime because it causes 16 times more serious adverse events than it prevents cervical cancer fatalities. Like most of the websites “crusading” against vaccines, it destroys its own credibility by drawing non-scientific conclusions [...]

The Lancet has finally withdrawn the paper on MMR and autism that it published 12 years ago. The study: “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children” consisted of a series of 12 children all of whom had been referred in to a paediatric gastroenterology unit with a triad of autism-like symptoms, abdominal [...]

I discovered this very interesting poll on Medscape today: What is interesting is that 17% of physicians who answered this survey think it is ethical to refuse to see a child whose parents have chosen not to vaccinate (this has remained stable at around 17% for the past 500 or so votes). I find this [...]

No, I don’t have a cold. And nor does my Mac, despite yet another silly scare article about the evils of malware. This one looks like a slightly fleshed-out press release from Sophos complete with video link to a scare video on Sophos’ website. Such things usually make me want to scream. It is all [...]

Obama has declared the Swine Flu epidemic in the US a national emergency. Swine Flu has been a public health emergency since April of this year, but making it a national emergency provides people like Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius quite sweeping powers to bypass most federal rules. I am a little curious as [...]

Centre for Disease Control in the US has announced that the H1N1 virus’ genetic makeup now “appears to be stable”. The cynical side of the MacDoctor finds the juxtaposition of this pronouncement on the back of the FDA announcing their approval of the first Swine flu vaccine just a little too convenient. Especially when the [...]