vaccine technologies

Lloydspharmacy launches new travel clinics to help provide vaccines and malaria tablets, to help ensure travellers stay healthy. More and more Brits are exploring the globe, however because there are so many things to think about when preparing to go abroad, too often health protection is left to the last minute or forgotten altogether, leading travellers to not be fully prepared for the health risks that the countries being visited potentially pose. To assist travellers Lloydspharmacy has now launched a convenient one-stop travel service which not only advises which travel vaccines and anti malaria tablets are required for specific destinations, but also provides access ... Read Full Story

Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday. Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty. Starting next year an extra 6.3 million children worldwide will have the chance to feel that pinch and get vaccinated against some of the world's deadliest illnesses, according to the GAVI Alliance, a global vaccine partnership that helped organize the Hanoi event. The funding will come from a drop in the price of the one-shot vaccine that safeguards against five infectious diseases to below $3 a dose, nearly 50 ... Read Full Story

Federal health experts said Wednesday an updated version of Pfizer's best-selling anti-infection vaccine is safe and effective for infants and toddlers, despite company studies that failed to meet certain goals. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of vaccine experts voted 10-1 in favor of Pfizer's Prevnar 13 to protect against pneumococcal disease. While the FDA is not required to follow the group's advice, its recommendation moves the company closer to expanding the use of a treatment that racked up more than $2.7 billion in sales last year as the world's top-selling vaccine. "We're very gratified to have achieved a positive recommendation from the committee," ... Read Full Story

Immigrant girls and women will no longer have to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus to get their green cards. Starting Dec. 14, the HPV, or human papillomavirus vaccine will no longer be on the list of immunizations female immigrants ages 11 to 26 must receive before becoming legal permanent residents. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the change on Friday. The CDC said it will require immunizations for which there is a public health need either at the time the person immigrates or changes their status to green card holder. "More than half of the immigrants who come to ... Read Full Story

Immigrant girls and women will no longer have to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus to get their green cards. Starting Dec. 14, the HPV, or human papillomavirus vaccine will no longer be on the list of immunizations immigrant females ages 11 to 26 must receive before becoming legal permanent residents. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the change on Friday. In a Federal Register entry, the CDC said it will require immunizations for which there is a public health need at the time the person immigrates or changes their status to green card holder. "More than half of the ... Read Full Story

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to approve an updated version of Pfizer's best-selling anti-infection vaccine for children, despite company studies that failed to meet certain goals. The Prevnar 13 vaccine reduces risk of infection by 13 varieties of pneumococcal disease, which causes ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia. The new version of the vaccine protects against six more varieties of the disease. But FDA reviewers say in online documents that company studies failed to meet effectiveness goals for three types of pneumococcal disease. The FDA will ask a panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in on the results at a meeting ... Read Full Story

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun vaccinating 2.6 million children under five against polio and measles in three provinces, the health minister said Tuesday. "The campaign concerns Kinshasa, Bas-Congo (both in the west) and Nord-Kivu (in the east) and is aimed at vaccinating 2.6 million children" in five days, Mopipi Mukulumanya told AFP. Apart from the vaccination, each child will receive a dose of vitamin A and will be deloused with mebendazole, a medicine used to treat infestation by a range of worms. The campaign will cost about four million dollars (2.7 million euros) and has been financed notably by ... Read Full Story