| |
 |
|
|
Science Forum Index » Immunology Forum » Money, poor children, Vaccines and 'Dubious" research
Page 1 of 1
|
| Author |
Message |
| bigvince |
 Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:28 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 http://sayingnotovaccines.blogspot.com/2007/07/research-on-hib-vaccine-dubious.html
Research on Hib vaccine 'dubious'
This amazing letter documents the skewed and often bogus data vaccine
researchers generate to get a vaccine approved for use.
Congratulations to Dr. Puliyel for having the courage to correct the
journalist's mistake and kudos to the Editor for printing his letter.
Dr. Sherri
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Letter to the Editor:
I was quoted in the Hib vaccine news story from 4 July (see Hib
vaccine could save thousands in Asia), but perhaps due to constraints
of column space, I feel justice was not done to what I said.
My main argument against the research findings from Bangladesh is not
that it does not make economic sense, but that the study is seriously
flawed. The visible enthusiasm of the sponsors of the study must not
be allowed to cloud scientific objectivity.
In the study, cases of pneumonia were compared with a control group
without pneumonia. Because more children in the control group received
the Hib vaccine, the researchers considered the vaccine to prevent
pneumonia. But closer reading of the paper suggests that the Hib
vaccination status in the control children was only coincidental.
The control children were significantly richer, lived in better houses
and their mothers were better educated. With their greater affluence,
more children in the control group probably wore branded T-shirts, but
we would not expect Nike or Reebok to suggest that wearing their
apparel is protective against pneumonia.
Where starvation and cholera kill thousands of children each year,
international agencies such as the GAVI Alliance, USAID and the WHO
are busy spending millions on dubious research to emphasise the harm
from a disease that local doctors hardly ever come across. All this so
that vaccine manufacturers can fill their coffers. This situation can
only be described as scandalous. It is unfortunate that five resource
poor countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka -- have been persuaded to undertake the expensive intervention on
the basis of flawed research.
Lois Privor-Dumm says in your report that Bangladesh is eligible for
funding for the Hib vaccine from the GAVI Alliance, so they will only
have to pay 20 US cents per dose instead of US$5.60 per dose. He
failed to mention that there is no long-term assurance of continued
GAVI funding, or that funding will be withdrawn soon after universal
vaccination becomes government policy.
Jacob M Puliyel, M.D.
Head of Paediatrics
St Stephens Hospital
Thanks Vince |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:33 am
|
|