Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Von der Leyen’s texts with Pfizer boss can be shared, says EU’s highest court

Posted on by

European court of justice says no ‘plausible explanation’ given for denying New York Times access to texts from pandemic

The EU’s highest court has cancelled a decision to withhold Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with a pharmaceutical executive during the pandemic, in a significant defeat for the commission president.

The European court of justice on Wednesday annulled a decision taken by the European Commission in November 2022 to deny the New York Times access to the messages, after a freedom of information request by the paper.

Continue reading...

Critic of Covid boosters set to enact tough agenda as top US vaccines official

Posted on by

Vinay Prasad, outspoken critic of pharmaceutical industry and of his peers in public health, to take over CBER

Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and hematologist who has called for more regulatory scrutiny of pharmaceuticals, including Covid vaccines, was named the top US vaccines official earlier this month.

Marty Makary, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced in a 6 May email obtained by the Guardian that Prasad would now lead the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which oversees biological products like blood, vaccines, and cellular and gene therapies. Biotech stocks plunged at the news.

Continue reading...

Melanoma patients in England get fast-track access to cancer vaccine

Posted on by

NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad expanded to include trial for patients with advanced type of skin cancer

Patients with an advanced type of skin melanoma in England will be given fast-track access to a “revolutionary” new cancer vaccine as part of an NHS trial.

The vaccine, known as iSCIB1+ (ImmunoBody), helps the immune system recognise cancer cells and therefore better respond to immunotherapy treatment.

Continue reading...

RFK Jr stayed silent on vaccine, says father of child who died from measles

Posted on by

Pete Hildebrand says health secretary ‘never said anything’ about vaccine’s efficacy when he visited for funeral

A Texas man who buried his eight-year-old daughter on Sunday after the unvaccinated child died with measles says Robert F Kennedy Jr “never said anything” about the vaccine against the illness or its proven efficacy while visiting the girl’s family and community for her funeral.

“He did not say that the vaccine was effective,” Pete Hildebrand, the father of Daisy Hildebrand, said in reference to Kennedy during a brief interview on Monday. “I had supper with the guy … and he never said anything about that.”

Continue reading...

India trains thousands of medics to promote vaccine in huge push to end cervical cancer

Posted on by

Vast scheme aims to counter disinformation and increase awareness in country where low HPV vaccine take-up means many die from the preventable disease

Tens of thousands of doctors across India are being trained to promote the HPV vaccine, in a push to eliminate cervical cancer in the country.

They will check with mothers attending medical appointments that they intend to vaccinate their daughters, and visit schools and community centres armed with facts and slideshows to counter vaccine disinformation.

Continue reading...

Biotech group warns exit of top FDA vaccine official will ‘erode scientific standards’

Posted on by

Rare admonition from a sector that has largely been silent in the face of the second Trump administration

The US biotech industry’s main lobby group issued a rare warning following the forced and abrupt resignation of the nation’s top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), saying the loss of his experienced leadership would “erode scientific standards” and affect the development of transformative therapies to fight disease.

The statement, issued on Saturday by John Crowley of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), followed the news a day earlier that Dr Peter Marks – who led the FDA division that ensured the safety of vaccines – had resigned over what he called “misinformation and lies” from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner contributed reporting

Continue reading...

Trump pick to head CDC sparks Maga backlash among conspiracy theorists

Posted on by

Firestorm from science deniers of anti-vaccine set shows splits in Trump world and forced RFK Jr to defend hire

Donald Trump’s appointment of a career health researcher to head the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provoked a serious rightwing backlash for the new administration.

Dozens of Maga influencers, along with many rank-and-file Trump supporters, have taken to social media to denounce Susan Monarez to spin false conspiracy theories about her connections to the CIA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).

Continue reading...

More US states report measles cases amid vaccine misinformation

Posted on by

Ohio, Maryland and Alabama among states to report new cases, with 378 confirmed in first few months of 2025

More US states are reporting measles cases as the Texas outbreak expands, surpassing last year’s total, amid vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.

The Texas outbreak could take a year to get under control, one health official said – during which time it may spread to more states. Yet the parents of the six-year-old girl who died of measles in Texas have spoken against measles vaccination as misinformation continues to proliferate, including from figures such as the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Continue reading...

Debunked myths that vaccines cause autism are increasing stigma

Posted on by

As parents resist vaccines over vague potential harms, advocates call it a case of ‘morals more than science’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to devote research dollars to the debunked myth that vaccines cause autism – legitimizing stigma not only around vaccines, but around autism itself.

Matthew Shallenberger, father to an 11-year-old autistic son in Tennessee, says this myth is harmful because “it treats autism as some dreadful disease to avoid at all costs.”

Continue reading...

Cuts to UK vaccine funding could lead to ‘huge numbers’ of child deaths overseas

Posted on by

Exclusive: Hundreds of thousands of world’s poorest children could die if aid programme slashed, experts warn

Hundreds of thousands of children in the world’s poorest countries will die if the UK cuts back funding for a hugely effective vaccination programme as part of its significant reduction in overseas aid, the Guardian has been told.

According to data collated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi), to which the UK has previously been one of the main contributors, even a small cut in UK funding would be expected to result in millions fewer vaccinations, leading to huge numbers of preventable deaths.

Continue reading...

Texas measles outbreak grows to 90 cases, worst level in 30 years

Posted on by

Epicenter of latest outbreak had one of state’s highest immunization exemption rates for 2023-24 school year

The measles outbreak in Texas has grown to at least 90 cases, reaching historic levels, according to officials.

Since late January, 90 cases of measles have been identified in the South Plains region, the state’s department of state health services (DSHS) reported Friday. At least 16 patients have been hospitalized as a result.

Continue reading...

Republican senator who voted for RFK Jr balks at Louisiana anti-vaccine move

Posted on by

Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general’s halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents

Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator, has said his home state of Louisiana’s recent decision to cancel the promotion of mass vaccination against preventable diseases is a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.

Nonetheless, before those remarks, the medical doctor-turned-politician who has clashed with Donald Trump joined 51 of his fellow Republicans in voting to confirm anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the US’s health and human services department. Cassidy had also previously voted to advance Trump’s nomination of Kennedy as national health secretary from the committee level to the full Senate.

Continue reading...

Trump aid spending freeze halts leading malaria vaccine programme

Posted on by

Global collaboration with US researchers likely to be set back by years, including on spread of drug-resistant HIV

A flagship programme to create malaria vaccines has been halted by the Trump administration, in just one example of a rippling disruption to health research around the globe since the new US president took power.

The USAid Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP) – which works to prevent child deaths by creating more effective second-generation vaccines – funds research by teams collaborating across institutes, including the US university Johns Hopkins and the UK’s University of Oxford.

Continue reading...

Former vaccines tsar describes ‘open warfare’ within UK government during Covid pandemic

Posted on by

Dame Kate Bingham, who led the vaccine taskforce in 2020, said the clinically vulnerable were deprioritised and goals were not followed

There was “open warfare” between UK government departments during the pandemic, the former vaccines tsar has said, adding the failure to prioritise the needs of clinically vulnerable, immunocompromised individuals was ethically and morally wrong.

Dame Kate Bingham led the vaccine taskforce (VTF) – based in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – between May and December 2020, and played a pivotal role in persuading the government to back the development of a portfolio of potential jabs, as well as securing contracts for millions of doses.

Continue reading...

Britain must build own vaccine manufacturing capability, says Matt Hancock

Posted on by

Former health secretary told Covid inquiry an onshore facility was ‘critical’ in preparation for future pandemic

Britain must build its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a “critical” part of preparing for a future pandemic, the former health secretary Matt Hancock has told the Covid inquiry.

Hancock, a central figure in the UK’s response to the crisis, said the pandemic demonstrated the “vital need” for a sovereign onshore facility to ensure the country was able to produce and distribute vaccine doses as soon as regulators gave the green light.

Continue reading...

Even in blue Colorado, vaccine advocates worry about RFK Jr’s appeal and ‘medical freedom’ movement

Posted on by

Growing rates of infectious disease in state’s most populous region could indicate increased ‘vaccine hesitancy’

In deep blue Colorado, one of the only states that did not shift right in the 2024 presidential election, vaccine advocates see openings for Robert F Kennedy Jr.

An environmental lawyer and the nation’s most prominent propagator of vaccine misinformation, Kennedy is now the embodiment of where left meets right – the scion of a political dynasty who first ran as a Democratic presidential candidate and is now slated to join president-elect Trump’s administration as the nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Continue reading...

Ex-CDC acting director calls RFK Jr’s false vaccine theories ‘cruel’

Posted on by

Richard Besser criticizes Trump’s health secretary pick, and says falsely linking vaccines to autism is a ‘cruel thing to do’

The former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has criticized Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination by Donald Trump as secretary of the country’s health and human services (HHS), calling his false vaccine theories “cruel”.

In a new interview on ABC, Richard Besser, who led the CDC during Barack Obama’s administration, called Kennedy’s push to falsely link vaccines to autism a “cruel thing to do”, adding, “There are things we do for our own health, but there are things we do that are good for ourselves, our families and our communities and vaccination falls into that category.”

Continue reading...

RFK Jr says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water

Posted on by

Kennedy, who Trump promised to let lead health programs, makes claims against fluoride, which strengthens teeth

Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that the former president would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear-and-tear, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Don’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts

Continue reading...

One in 10 Australian parents struggling to afford vaccinations for children

Posted on by

Biggest obstacle to improving immunisation rates are practical difficulties families face, according to national vaccination survey

One in 10 Australian parents are struggling to afford the costs of vaccinating their children, according to a nationally representative survey conducted earlier this year.

The national vaccination insights project surveyed 2,000 Australian parents of children under five between March and April, and found the biggest barrier to turning declining vaccination rates around were the practical difficulties parents face.

Continue reading...

Mpox vaccination begins in DRC after 859 die this year

Posted on by

World Health Organization declared outbreak in central and east Africa a global emergency two months ago

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun vaccination against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread to several countries was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

Some of the 265,000 doses donated to the DRC by the EU and the US were administered in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.

Continue reading...