►January 22, 2004 - Demand for flu vaccine decreasing, local officials say - The Garden City Telegram - "The Finney County Health Department didn't apply for any of the FluMist nasal influenza vaccine announced last week as being available through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, but health department Immunization Coordinator Donna Marley said demand for immunizations has slowed...'It kind of calmed down when we ran out, darn it,' she said."

Comment:  "Darn it?"  She's disappointed that demand didn't exceed supply?  What's that about?

►January 22, 2004 - Controversy Threatens Polio Eradication - Daily Champion (Lagos) via www.allafrica.com

►January 20, 2004 - Search for bird flu vaccine may be surprisingly short - The Straits Times

►January 21, 2004 - FluMist to Be Donated to Health Agencies - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 20, 2004 - Chinese test SARS vaccine - UPI via The Washington Times

►January 22, 2004 - Anthrax vaccine moves forward - Oakland Tribune - "VaxGen Inc., which is developing treatments in case of bioterrorism, said U.S. regulators designated its experimental anthrax vaccine as a 'fast-track' product, which may speed its review."

►January 23, 2004 - Vaccine close to release - International pharmaceutical company Chiron Corporation is speeding up the manufacture of the new vaccine designed to combat the deadly meningoccocal B epidemic hitting New Zealand. - www.stuff.co.nz

►January 22, 2004 - Is AIDS Vaccine Trial In Thailand A Waste Of Money? - www.voanews.com - "The problem, as critics see it, is that neither shot seems to work very well on its own. The first shot has not looked promising in preliminary tests. The second shot has already failed a previous large-scale trial. Cornell University AIDS researcher John Moore says putting the two together doesn't add up...'There is this argument that naught plus naught might equal one. Personally, I don't buy into it. The evidence that the two vaccine components work better together than apart is really very poor.'"

►January 22, 2004 - Blueprint on Way for Vaccine Factory to Combat Terror Strikes - The Scotsman -"Plans for a Government-owned factory to produce large amounts of vaccine in the event of a terrorist strike could be finalised within weeks, it emerged today...The rapid response facility would produce vaccine for people contaminated by a chemical or biological attack."
 

►January 21, 2004 - FluMist Offered Free to Public Health Agencies - The Washington Post

Comment:  I see.  The taxpayer gets to pay for what may be a worthless vaccine.  Nice for the vaccine manufacturers, eh?  The PERFECT BUSINESS PLAN,  i.e., a) pay for and conduct the studies justifying use of your products b) get the vaccines to be universally mandated for school entry c) get your liability covered and d) NOW get the taxpayer to pay for your product even if it is worthless (and may be harmful) JUST GOT EVEN BETTER!  For more on this, go to Hyping Vaccines: An Investigation - Chickenpox, Lyme, Rotavirus, And A Highly Revealing Analysis Of Flu Statistics - by RFD Columnist, Dr. F. Edward Yazbak in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com and How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

►January 21, 2004 - WHO develops vaccine against H5N1 infection in humans - www.chinaview.cn

►January 21, 2004 - Lawsuit Forces School To Readmit Student Who Was Expelled For Refusing The Hepatitis B Vaccination - Liberty Counsel

►January 22, 2004 - WHO rushing vaccine amid Asian bird flu epidemic - www.channelnewsasia.com

►January 22, 2004 - VAXGEN’S Anthrax Vaccine Candidate Receives Fast Track Designation - www.pharmexec.com

►January 21, 2004 - Local company testing anthrax vaccine - www.wtvw.com - "Bioterrorism is a constant threat, and now the government wants a new vaccine to protect us from anthrax...Now the race is on to find a safer vaccine. That's where federal researchers and those at GFI, a research company, come in...'What they've actually developed now is not only a vaccine that's been on the market for years, we're actually involved in a trial on a new vaccine to potentially protect the public,' said Dr. Randall Stoltz, Medical Director of GFI."

►January 21, 2004 - 'Supervaccines' Developed To Combine Childhood Shots - Required Vaccines Cover 10 Diseases With Multiple Shots - www.thebostonchannel.com - "For a lot of parents, keeping track of their children's immunizations can be a full-time job. The mandatory number of vaccinations covers 10 diseases with multiple shots, and according to health experts, that number may double over the next decade."

Comment:  The number of mandatory vaccinations "may double over the next decade"? When is enough going to be enough?  When are parents going to "just say no" to vaccines?

Comment:  Whether or not vaccines can be safely combined has not been adequately tested, either in the long or short-term.  But there are clearly reasons to be concerned.  For instance, in a 1986 Science article, when combined in the bodies of mice, two harmless herpes viruses recombined and killed 62% of the mice. 

►January 21, 2004 - China in SARS vaccine trial - 30 volunteers to receive inactivated virus in Phase I equivalent  - The Scientist

►January 21, 2004 - Corporate AIDS Vaccine Experts Turn to Charity - Reuters via Yahoo! - "A prominent vaccine specialist who set up his own company to try to stop AIDS (news - web sites) says he has opted for a non-profit approach to fighting the disease after concluding that was the best way to find a vaccine...Dr. Donald Francis, who announced he was leaving Brisbane, California-based VaxGen on Tuesday along with two other top officers, is the second prominent corporate AIDS researcher to leave the private sector for the non-profit world this month."

►January 21, 2004 - Vietnam last on flu vaccine list - The New Scientist - "Drug company contracts and intellectual property rights are impeding efforts to ensure an outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam does not result in a deadly human pandemic...All the victims so far got the disease from poultry, but the big fear is that the virus could turn into a form capable of spreading from person to person. A flu vaccine that might help prevent this will soon become available, but instead of going to Vietnam it will be sent to rich countries to fulfil existing contracts."

Comment:  Might this constitute evidence that the purpose of vaccines is solely financial and has little to do with hoping to prevent the spread of disease?

►January 22, 2004 - Compo warning over vaccines - The West Australian - "The Federal Government could face huge compensation claims if children get sick because their parents could not afford to pay for vaccinations, a consumer group has warned."

►January 21, 2004 - Venezuela donates half million yellow fever vaccinations to Colombia (requires subscription) - www.vheadline.com

►January 21, 2004 - New vaccine for herpes in final trial phase - Mount Sinai School of Medicine is seeking healthy women volunteers 18-30 to participate in Multi-Center, national trial - Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine via www.eurekalert.org

►January 21, 2004 - BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR: FDA fails to halt anthrax anxiety - After judge stopped controversial vaccine feds declared it safe - by Timothy W. Maier - Insight magazine, via www.worldnetdaily.com  - "'Only after the issuance of an injunction, up pops a federal rule,' Sullivan declared with acid sarcasm to Justice Department attorney Shannen Coffin, who is representing the Pentagon in the lawsuit filed by the six John Does. 'And you're telling me it's coincidental?'...'I'd stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you it's coincidental,' Coffin replied to Sullivan...'That's an amazing coincidence,' Sullivan shot back."

►January 20, 2004 (broadcast date) - Shot in the arm: the chiropractic dispute over childhood vaccinations - CBC News - "Who hasn't heard the media message to get a flu shot?  After SARS, a lot of us are pretty scared of getting sick.  But not everyone.  Some people are more concerned about the risk of severe side effects from getting vaccinated...They're arguing that children should not be vaccinated for anything - not measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, not even polio."

►January 21, 2004 - Some savings cited by Gov. Riley - AP via The Tuscaloosa News - Save $955,474 by reducing nursing staff in immunizations and child health programs, reducing school lunchroom inspections, and reducing health education programs in schools.

►Winter 2003/published January 21, 2004 at http://jpands.org/ - Autism in the United States: a Perspective - by F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP via Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons - "Once rare, autism has reached epidemic proportions in the United States.  The increase cannot be attributed to changes in diagnostic criteria, which have actually become more restrictive."

►January 21, 2004 - Autism reaching 'epidemic' levels - www.tcpalm.com - "It's one of the worst nightmares a parent can imagine - without warning, a child is abducted from his bed in the middle of the night, never to return...Now, imagine that instead of taking the whole child, only his mind is stolen and his body - the hollow shell of his being - is left behind."

►January 23, 2004 - Prevalence of serum antibodies to caudate nucleus in autistic children - the latest by Vijendra K. Singh - journal article (Neuroscience Letters) via www.sciencedirect.com

►January 21, 2004 - Resources for parents of autistic children - www.tcpalm.com

►January 21, 2004 - Ontario mother calls on government to keep promise to fund autism treatment - Canadian Press via  www.medbroadcast.com - "An Ontario mother is asking the province to keep its promise to fund treatment for autistic children beyond the age of six, pointing to submissions by the Ontario Human Rights Commission that say the policy is 'discriminatory.'...Refusing to pay for therapy for older children 'is discriminatory to children with autism over the age of six,' said the commission's pleadings in the case that it has referred to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Comment:  If it turns out to be true that vaccines are a cause of autism, the life-time cost of caring for the one out of 250 or so (maybe even more) autistic children needs to be factored into any costs associated with vaccination (particularly when compared to the costs associated with the disease(s) the vaccines are designed to "prevent").

*Note:  Starting December 10, 2003 news will be posted in the "daily news" pages based on when it was posted on this website, not by publication date.