Identification of Protective Antibodies may be the Key to Effective Malaria Vaccine

An Oxford-led study has identified the antibodies that may hold the key to creating the first effective vaccine against malaria infection in the blood. Researchers from the University of Oxford, along with partners from five institutions around the world, have identified the human antibodies that prevent the malaria parasite from entering blood cells, which may […]

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Momentous decision to offer boys HPV vaccine

The decision to offer boys a vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has just been announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The Oral Health Foundation  believes the decision, which has been under consideration since 2013, will lead to many lives being saved due to the […]

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New vaccines research aims to tackle Ebola, Plague and Zika

People around the world could benefit from new vaccines to target deadly diseases such as Ebola, Plague and Zika, as the UK Government announces a further £22 million for new vaccine research, bringing the total UK funding to £71 million. The funding, which will target some of the world’s deadliest diseases, is announced as the […]

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Aluminium adjuvants in vaccines

Medical ampoules with medicine in a box

How do you express a legitimate concern about aluminium adjuvants in vaccines without being labelled as ‘anti-vaccine’? We are studying the role and efficacy of aluminium adjuvants used in vaccines. We have been researching the impact of aluminium on life for more than 30 years and we are applying this experience to our understanding of […]

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Vaccine safety – don’t shut down the debate

The Hippocratic Post - vaccine

I am not an apologist for Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who proposed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism via the guts nearly 20 years ago. Since then Wakefield has had his licence to practice withdrawn and the link declared disproved. But I do feel that we should not simply shut down the discussion […]

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The anti-vaccine trend

anti-vaccine

Herd immunity requires that the majority of people are vaccinated to stop proliferation of disease. Measles, for example, is so contagious that about 90 per cent of people who are not immune will become infected if they come close to an infected person. However, childhood vaccination rates have been falling as anti-vaccine sentiment grows, particularly […]

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Aluminium adjuvants and vaccine safety

aluminium adjuvants

The majority of vaccinations use an adjuvant to boost their effectiveness and in most cases, the adjuvant is an aluminium salt including aluminium phosphate and aluminium hydroxide. The simplest explanation of how an aluminium adjuvant works is that its injection into the muscle or under the skin produces toxicity, thus providing greater immunity to a […]

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HPV vaccine for boys

The Hippocratic Post - HPV

Recent sexually transmitted infection (STI) figures from Public Health England show that young women are continuing to benefit from the introduction of the nationwide Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination programme in 2008. All girls aged 12 to 13 are offered the vaccine as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme, and an eight per cent […]

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Plant-based vaccine for polio

The Hippocratic Post - polio

“The fight against polio has been one of the great success stories of modern medicine with the disease already eliminated in much of the world. However, current immunisation programmes use attenuated ‘live’ or ‘killed’ virus vaccines, both of which carry a risk of live virus escaping back into the wild. A research consortium, led by […]

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