IOM’s New Report Reaffirms Safety of Vaccines
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The Institue of Medicine of the National Acadamies (IOM) has relased a new report, titled “Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality.” From the report’s summary:
“Immunizations are a cornerstone of the nation’s efforts to protect people from a host of infectious diseases. Though generally very rare or very minor, there are side effects, or “adverse effects,” associated with some vaccines. The IOM reviewed a list of adverse events associated with eight vaccines to evaluate the scientific evidence about the event—vaccine relationship. Using epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence, the committee developed 158 causality conclusions, assigning each relationship between a vaccine and an adverse health problem to one of four causation categories. Overall, the IOM committee concludes that few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines.”
AIDS Drugs: What about side effects?
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This is a guest post by Kenny Goldberg, health reporter for KPBS News in San Diego. He is a former J2J fellow.
The results of three new studies about the effectiveness of daily use of the medication tenofovir, Truvada and other drugs to prevent transmission of HIV are impressive. The idea that a pill could act as a prophylactic against the spread of the virus has been a longtime dream.
But as anyone who’s been covering the epidemic knows, when it comes to antiretroviral drugs, there is no free lunch. All medications have side effects. As journalists responsible for reporting on advances in the field, we need to communicate those risks and put them in their proper context.
Haiti: How You Can Help
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A Note from NPF Staff about the tragic situation in Haiti: Dear J2J Fellows, In this extremely difficult time for Haiti, we’re reaching out to the J2J community to let you know how you can help. Please see the list of international relief organizations below, or contact your local aid organization. We also encourage you to check with your own local relief organizations. Haiti: How to help Source: BBC Haiti Disaster Relief: How to Contribute Source: New York Times How to help relief efforts for Haiti Source: The Miami Herald The International Rescue Committee
Class in session for the new Paul Miller fellows
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Next Tuesday is the first session for the 2007/08 class of Paul Miller fellows. Check out the agenda is on the NPF website. Later next week, I'll be posting some of the resources and audio from the seminar along with recaps of the day by the Paul Millerites themselves. Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!
HIV Denialism - an ongoing discussion
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HIV denial is one of the topics in focus on our other blog, The NPF Helpdesk. To get a better grasp on how denialists are able to spread their messages, take a look at this paper on PLoS Medicine. It provides useful frameworks for understanding denialist arguments and how they work to undermine scientific consensus. And for a refresher on how this subjects relates to journalism, have another listen at our Journalist to Journalist discussion in Sydney.
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