Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Brexit threatens UK’s ability to respond to a future pandemic

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The coronavirus should remind us of just why international cooperation is so important in reducing the threat of infectious disease
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Brexit threatens the UK’s ability to respond to the novel coronavirus and future pandemics

The coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time for the UK and its citizens. Just as UK government ministers are digging in for the really difficult part of Brexit, the negotiations on future relationships with the EU and the rest of the world, a new virus comes out of China that reminds us of just why international co-operation is so important.

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Coronavirus facts: is there a cure and what is the mortality rate of the virus?

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Covid-19 essential guide: can it be caught on public transport, how is it different from the flu, and how sick will I get?

The Covid-19 virus is a member of the coronavirus family that made the jump from animals to humans late last year. Many of those initially infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city of Wuhan. Unusually for a virus that has made the jump from one species to another, it appears to transmit effectively in humans – current estimates show that without strong containment measures the average person who catches Covid-19 will pass it on to two others. The virus also appears to have a higher mortality rate than common illnesses such as seasonal flu. The combination of coronavirus’s ability to spread and cause serious illness has prompted many countries, including the UK, to introduce or plan extensive public health measures aimed at containing and limiting the impact of the epidemic.

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Yes, it is worse than the flu: busting the coronavirus myths

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The truth about the protective value of face masks and how easy it is to catch Covid-19

Many individuals who get coronavirus will experience nothing worse than seasonal flu symptoms, but the overall profile of the disease, including its mortality rate, looks more serious. At the start of an outbreak the apparent mortality rate can be an overestimate if a lot of mild cases are being missed. But this week, a WHO expert suggested that this has not been the case with Covid-19. Bruce Aylward, who led an international mission to China to learn about the virus and the country’s response, said the evidence did not suggest that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. If borne out by further testing, this could mean that current estimates of a roughly 1% fatality rate are accurate. This would make Covid-19 about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally.

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Women can be protected from cervical cancer – so why aren’t we doing it?

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Amid a global shortage of HPV vaccine, more must be done to steer supplies towards those most at risk: girls in poor countries

For too many women, cervical cancer is a death sentence. But it doesn’t have to be. A life-saving preventative vaccine can dramatically cut cases and put the world on track to eliminate this deadly disease.

The UK first began offering a vaccine against HPV – the primary cause of cervical cancer – in 2008. According to a 2018 study by Public Health England, infections of certain cancer-causing types of HPV have since fallen by 86% among 16- to 21-year-old women. A study conducted in Scotland last year found that the vaccine reduced pre-cancerous cervical lesions by up to 90%.

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Samoa ends measles state of emergency as infection rate slows

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Six-week state of emergency is lifted after disease killed 81 people and sickened more than 5,600 others

Samoa has lifted a six-week state of emergency after the infection rate from a measles outbreak that has swept the country started to come under control.

The South Pacific nation has been gripped by the highly infectious disease, which has killed 81 people, most of them babies and young children, and sickened more than 5,600 others.

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‘These babies should not have died’: How the measles outbreak took hold in Samoa

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The unprecedented health crisis has claimed 72 lives, mostly children. Now questions are being asked about how it came to this

“Every time I visit my baby, I see a morgue full of dead babies,” says a mother sitting at Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital in Apia, the capital of Samoa.

The woman’s one-year-old died in the measles outbreak that has wracked the Pacific nation over the past two months. She now comes to the morgue day after day, awaiting the release of her child’s body.

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Samoa measles crisis: 100 new cases as anti-vaccination activist charged

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Nation lifts two-day curfew amid rise in mandatory vaccinations and arrest of ‘anti-vaxxer’

Samoa has said nearly 90% of eligible people have been vaccinated against measles as it lifted a two-day curfew imposed amid an outbreak that has killed 65 in recent weeks.

There were, however, 103 new cases of measles reported since Friday, Samoa’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

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142,000 died from measles last year, WHO estimates

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Number of cases reported so far this year is three times higher than at same stage in 2018

The worldwide surge in deadly measles outbreaks is showing no sign of abating, with nearly 10 million cases and 142,000 deaths last year, according to new estimates, and three times more cases reported so far this year than at the same stage in 2018.

Most of those dying are small children, and thousands more suffer harm including pneumonia and brain damage. New scientific evidence shows survivors are at greater risk soon afterwards because their immune system is impaired.

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Samoa measles epidemic kills 20

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Children under five account for all but one of deaths as 1,644 suspected cases are identified

Deaths related to measles, mostly among small children, have more than tripled to 20 in the past week on the Pacific island of Samoa, the government has said, eight days after declaring a state of emergency over the outbreak.

The island state of 200,000, located south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, declared a measles epidemic late in October after the first deaths.

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Samoa declares state of emergency over deadly measles epidemic

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At least six deaths have been linked to the outbreak, in a nation where vaccination rates are alarmingly low

Samoa has closed all schools and cracked down on public gatherings as it enters a state of emergency over the deadly measles outbreak spreading across the Pacific islands.

The island state of just 200,000, halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, announced the state of emergency on Saturday after declaring a measles epidemic late in October, when the first deaths were reported.

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Rabies breakthrough offers fresh hope in battle against deadly virus

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New research raises hopes of oral vaccine for dogs, the chief source of transmission to humans

Researchers have discovered a way to stop rabies from shutting down critical responses in the immune system, a breakthrough that could pave the way for new tools to fight the deadly disease.

Rabies kills almost 60,000 people each year, mostly affecting poor and rural communities.

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German parliament approves compulsory measles vaccinations

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Bundestag backs law that will fine parents up to €2,500 if children are not inoculated

Germany’s parliament has voted to make measles vaccinations compulsory for children, in response to a global rise in cases of the disease.

Parents who refuse to get their children inoculated face fines of up to €2,500 (£2,140) and a likely ban from nursery or school.

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Lives at risk from surge in measles across Europe, experts warn

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Measles kills 37 in first half of 2019 as number of cases tops figure for whole of last year

The dramatic surge in measles across Europe is putting lives at risk, experts have said, as official figures showed the number of cases in the first half of 2019 outstripped that for the whole of last year.

Data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed nearly 90,000 cases and 37 deaths were reported across 48 of the 53 countries in the WHO European region in the first six months of 2019.

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Philippines declares epidemic after dengue fever kills more than 600

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Cases have gone up 98% after the government banned a vaccine widely blamed for causing the deaths of children

An outbreak of dengue fever in the Philippines has been declared a national epidemic after causing hundreds of deaths this year in the wake of a government ban on the vaccine.

The country has recorded 146,062 cases of dengue from January through to 20 July this year, 98% more than the same period in 2018, the department of health said. The outbreak has already claimed the lives of 622 people. The group worst affected have been children below the age of 10.

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Anti-extremism software to be used to tackle vaccine disinformation

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Redirection tool that confronts anti-vax theories under development by UK’s Moonshot

Technology used to counter violent messages online from Islamic State and the far right is being adapted to counter the spread of “anti-vax” conspiracy theories.

Moonshot CVE, a company currently working in as many as 28 countries, uses techniques to identify and intervene in the cases of internet users at risk of being radicalised online. Its technology has already been deployed to counter the KKK in the US, Isis and the far right in Europe.

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Stall in vaccination rates putting children at risk, says Unicef

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Agency blames war, inequality and complacency for 20 million children missing immunisation

A dangerous stagnation in vaccination rates is putting children at risk of preventable diseases around the world, the UN children’s agency has warned, blaming conflict, inequality and complacency.

One in 10 children, totalling 20 million globally, missed out on basic immunisation against the life-threatening infections of measles, diphtheria and tetanus last year, says Unicef.

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‘People are very scared’: fighting dengue fever in Brazil – in pictures

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Dengue fever is one of the most deadly mosquito-borne diseases – half the world’s population is at risk from it. Adrienne Surprenant’s photos from the World Mosquito Program in Brazil capture the fight against it

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Rich nations could end cervical cancer within decades, say experts

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Study shows HPV vaccine has greatly reduced infections among girls and young women

Elimination of cervical cancer in wealthy countries such as the UK may be possible within decades, say experts, following a major study showing the success of the HPV jab in protecting women.

Human papilloma virus, which is sexually transmitted, can cause cervical cancer as well as anogenital warts. Data from high-income countries shows vaccination has led to an 83% reduction in HPV infections in 15- to 19-year-old girls over five to eight years. Among women aged 20 to 24, infections are down 66%.

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French scepticism over vaccines reflects distrust of government

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French people’s ‘pathological’ relationship with the state may be a factor in anti-vax trend

France is more sceptical about vaccine safety than any other nation, research suggests. A third of French people disagree that vaccines are safe, according to the Wellcome Global Monitor survey.

This scepticism over vaccinations reflects the public’s comparatively high distrust of politicians, say experts on France’s anti-vaccine movement. The Wellcome study found France had among the highest levels of distrust of government.

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Survey shows crisis of confidence in vaccines in parts of Europe

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Just half of people in eastern Europe think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide

A global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed the scale of the crisis of confidence in vaccines in Europe, showing that only 59% of people in western Europe and 50% in the east think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide.

Around the globe, 84% of people acknowledge that vaccines are effective and 92% say their child has received a vaccine. But in spite of good healthcare and education systems, in parts of Europe there is low trust in vaccines. France has the highest levels of distrust, at 33%.

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