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The Lancet has finally withdrawn the paper on MMR and autism that it published 12 years ago.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 [...]

At least the medical insurance companies have assessed the risk of the swine flu vaccine properly. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that they are refusing to extend insurance to doctors who give the swine flu jab. Clearly, they think that the vaccine, which is being fast-tracked with only the bare minimum of clinical safety trials, [...]

It was predictable that the spike in measles cases (I hesitate to call it an epidemic) would lead to the active promotion of immunisation, but the latest pronouncement by MoH suggests that the place has been completely over-run by Vaccine Nazis. They are now saying that un-immunised children will be denied schooling for up to [...]

Is vaccination the answer to preventing a measles epidemic? Does anyone know of any other way of preventing a measles epidemic? Didn’t think so. Measles is about 10 times more infectious than flu. No amount of hand-washing and mask-wearing will stop you from catching it, if you don’t have immunity. Sufferers are usually infectious for [...]

Nuclear Measles: Things that get launched from Russian nuclear submarines. What you get when you have a single case of measles notified to a public health department hyped up by a flu pandemic. I was working last Saturday when dozens of patients worriedly asked for a measles vaccination. This is a seriously strange thing to [...]

What is it with Nikki Turner, the director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre? Does she have some sort of strange needle fetish? MSD, the makers of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine, plan to apply to have it licensed for boys and men up to the age of 26, after new research shows it may prevent up to 90 [...]

I’m not altogether in favour of the current national vaccination schedule. I have already blogged about the dubious benefits of the meningococcal vaccine and the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil. I fail to see the benefit of vaccinating against the perfectly benign childhood disease, mumps. It is also a mystery to me why boys are immunized against german measles, which [...]

It seems that gas heaters are bad for your asthma. A team from Building Research Association (BRANZ) in conjunction with several universities, says the heaters produce nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and water vapour. This make homes both toxic and damp, worsening asthma symptoms. Studies from other countries have also demonstrated that warm, dry homes substantially reduce [...]