News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A recent Associated Press (AP) report revealed that, in the name of preventing biological attacks, the United States has rules barring the exportation of vaccines for avian influenza, smallpox, yellow fever, and many other pathogens to five countries classified as sponsors of terrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – One third of US adults aged 65 and older are not vaccinated against pneumonia, according to a national report that describes them as representative of millions of adult Americans who are vulnerable to diseases that can be forestalled by vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – A large prospective study from Hong Kong raises the possibility that elderly people with chronic illnesses can significantly reduce their risk of stroke and heart attack by getting vaccinated against influenza and pneumococcal disease at the same time, but other researchers are greeting the findings with a mix of caution and skepticism.

(CIDRAP News) – A cheap new vaccine for bacterial meningitis debuted today with the launching of an immunization drive in the West African country of Burkina Faso, in the first stage of an effort that could rid sub-Saharan Africa of the primary cause of meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

(CIDRAP News) – A long investigative article in BMJ says that the retracted 1998 Lancet report linking autism with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was an elaborate fraud designed to support a lawsuit against the vaccine's manufacturer.