A 300-Year-Old Tale Of One Woman's Quest To Stop A Deadly Virus
In 1721, London was in the grips of a deadly smallpox epidemic. One woman learned how to stop it, but her solution sowed political division. (Image credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty) (Source: NPR Health and Science)
Source: NPR Health and Science - March 8, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Geoff Brumfiel Source Type: news
Meet Onesimus, The Enslaved Man Who Saved Colonial Boston From Smallpox
When a smallpox epidemic ravaged Boston in 1721, a doctor named Zabdiel Boylston got the seemingly crazy idea to expose healthy people to small amounts of pus from smallpox patients. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - March 1, 2021 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Kiona N. Smith, Contributor Tags: Science /science Innovation /innovation Healthcare /healthcare Diversity, Equity & Inclusion /diversity-equity-inclusion Editors' Pick editors-pick Source Type: news
Over 200 years ago, a bold smallpox experiment in a New England town proved the success of vaccines
The demonstration involving 12 young smallpox vaccine pioneers was a landmark for public acceptance of vaccination. (Source: Washington Post: To Your Health)
Source: Washington Post: To Your Health - February 27, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Erin Blakemore Source Type: news
We ’ll Probably Never Eliminate COVID-19 from the U.S. It’s Still Worth Trying
2021 got off to a grim pandemic start in the U.S. A huge surge in COVID-19 cases followed the holiday season, peaking at around 300,000 new cases on Jan. 8, 2020. More than 20,000 Americans lost their lives to the virus in a single week in January alone and over 146,00 in total have died since the start of the year. But six weeks later, the picture looks more promising. New daily cases have fallen sharply, daily deaths have fallen to levels not seen since Thanksgiving, and the pace of vaccine roll-out is speeding up.
These positive trends mean that we can now begin to ask what the endgame might look like. Would we be happy...
Source: TIME: Health - February 25, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: William Hanage and Gavin Yamey Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Vaccination passports are nothing new – and the sooner we have them, the better | Letter
I still have the stamped and dated certificates for smallpox and yellow fever that were required for travel in the 1950s and 60s, writesDr David BoswellJust before the inoculation programme was rolled out, I wrote to my GP pointing out that soon travel agents, airlines and other countries would require certificates of vaccination against Covid-19, and asking what was being done to provide these (Coronavirus vaccine strategy needs rethink after resistant variants emerge, say scientists, 8 February). I got no reply.Now this is a major issue. Yet one is only given a tiny card recording the date and type of vaccine. This is cl...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 10, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Letters Tags: Vaccines and immunisation Coronavirus Infectious diseases Medical research Microbiology Science World news Health Travel Source Type: news
Intellectual Property Cause of Death, Genocide
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis ChowdhuryKUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Feb 9 2021 (IPS) Refusal to temporarily suspend several World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property (IP) provisions to enable much faster and broader progress in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic should be grounds for International Criminal Court prosecution for genocide.
Jomo Kwame SundaramMaking life-saving vaccines, medicines and equipment available, freely or affordably, has been crucial for containing the spread of many infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, polio and smallpox.
Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, insisted...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - February 9, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury Tags: Crime & Justice Development & Aid Economy & Trade Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news
Could understanding the history of anti-vaccine sentiment help us to overcome it?
Ever since Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine for smallpox there have been opportunistic people willing to spread misinformation. As the Covid-19 vaccines are administered, what ’s the best way to counter them?Sarah and her brother Benjamin (not their real names) have never seen eye to eye. She ’s a professional scientist, he – according to Sarah’s description – is someone who is susceptible to conspiracy theories. They maintained an uneasy truce until a few weeks ago. Tensions came to a head when Sarah was on the phone to her mum, talking her through the online procedure to book a slot for her Covid-19 va...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 26, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Laura Spinney Tags: Vaccines and immunisation Health Society Source Type: news
A Look at Past Vaccine Drives: Smallpox, Polio and the Swine Flu
As governments begin rolling out the biggest vaccine drives in history, a look at mass vaccination campaigns of the past offers insight into mistakes. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - January 25, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jenny Gross Tags: Smallpox Vaccination and Immunization Swine Influenza Epidemics Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Source Type: news
Five Past Vaccine Drives and How They Worked
As governments begin rolling out the biggest vaccine drives in history, a look at mass vaccination campaigns of the past offers insight into mistakes. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - January 25, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jenny Gross Tags: Smallpox Vaccination and Immunization Swine Influenza Epidemics Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Source Type: news
South Africa: Immunisation Record Risks Being Dented By Anti-Vaccination Views
[The Conversation Africa] Vaccination has eradicated smallpox, nearly eradicated polio, and led to major reductions of serious infectious diseases. These include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and measles. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - January 22, 2021 Category: African Health Source Type: news
How Ben Franklin Went From Anti-Vaxxer To Advocate
As the epidemic raged on, a Boston physician announced that he could expose people to the virus in a way that would give them a much milder, less dangerous infection – and then protect them from smallpox for the rest of their lives. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - January 21, 2021 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Kiona N. Smith, Contributor Tags: Science /science Innovation /innovation Healthcare /healthcare Editors' Pick editors-pick Coronavirus Source Type: news
TNCs Reviving TPP Frankenstein
By Jomo Kwame SundaramKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 12 2021 (IPS) The incoming Biden administration is under tremendous pressure to demonstrate better US economic management. Trade negotiations normally take years to conclude, if at all. Unsurprisingly, lobbyists are already urging the next US administration to quickly embrace and deliver a new version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Trump legacy
Repackaging and reselling a TPP avatar will not be easy. Well before Trump’s election, even the official mid-2016 International Trade Commission’s assessment doubted Peterson Institute of Internation...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 12, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Jomo Kwame Sundaram Tags: Economy & Trade Featured Financial Crisis Global Globalisation Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse North America TerraViva United Nations Trade & Investment Source Type: news
mRNA Technology Gave Us the First COVID-19 Vaccines. It Could Also Upend the Drug Industry
“No!” The doctor snapped. “Look at me!”
I had been staring her in the eyes, as she had ordered, but when a doctor on my other side began jabbing me with a needle, I started to turn my head. “Don’t look at it,” the first doctor said. I obeyed.
This was in early August in New Orleans, where I had signed up to be a participant in the clinical trial for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. It was a blind study, which meant I was not supposed to know whether I had gotten the placebo or the real vaccine. I asked the doctor if I would really been able to tell by looking at the syringe. &...
Source: TIME: Health - January 11, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Walter Isaacson Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 feature Magazine Source Type: news
mRNA Technology Gave Us the First COVID-19 Vaccines. It Could Also Upend the Drug Industry
“No!” The doctor snapped. “Look at me!”
I had been staring her in the eyes, as she had ordered, but when a doctor on my other side began jabbing me with a needle, I started to turn my head. “Don’t look at it,” the first doctor said. I obeyed.
This was in early August in New Orleans, where I had signed up to be a participant in the clinical trial for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. It was a blind study, which meant I was not supposed to know whether I had gotten the placebo or the real vaccine. I asked the doctor if I would really been able to tell by looking at the syringe. &...
Source: TIME: Science - January 11, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Walter Isaacson Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 feature Magazine Source Type: news
An Appreciation for Vaccines, and How Far They Have Come
The DTP vaccine teaches us about how brilliant vaccine technology can be, but also how it can be studied and improved over time. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - January 11, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Perri Klass, M.D. Tags: Whooping Cough Vaccination and Immunization Tetanus Smallpox Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Children and Childhood Diphtheria Poliomyelitis Source Type: news
