Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Benefit and Doubt in Vaccine Additive/NYT

With respect to squalene-containing (a.k.a. oil-in-water emulsion) adjuvants, the September 21 New York Times' Andrew Pollack has done some excellent reporting: 
...“These are products that potentially can be given to millions of healthy people,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman, chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration. “There is not a known, specific safety danger or issue” with the adjuvants, Dr. Goodman acknowledged. “There’s just more uncertainty.”

Officials also fear that using an adjuvant would raise public fears about vaccine safety at a time when their challenge might be about to shift from procuring enough vaccine to persuading people to use it.

“If you add what the public would perceive as another unknown there, there’s a concern that people would be reluctant to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases....

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