In the recent past Peacenik has said that Peacenik would take a swine flu vaccine if and when it is ready. After reading this article Peacenik is saying that Peacenik will do some more research on a given vaccine before getting vaccinated. Peacenik can't ignore the controversies surrounding vaccines. And Peacenik doesn't trust the big pharma companies. Would they rush a vaccine to market just to cash in? Would they market a vaccine without testing it fully? They've done it before. Peacnenik hopes there will be informed unbiased people keeping the public aware of the issues in the inevitable vaccination panic to come. Will those people be politicians? Probably not. Will those people be in the media? Probably not.
by: SusanC
Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 19:45:18 PM EDT
The 1976 vaccine was correlated with an increased incidence of GBS, which, according to a recent study described earlier, may be due to molecular mimicry, between the HA molecule and human gangliosides, proteins that permeate our nervous system.
Ideally one would want to repeat the study and confirm the findings, at least, but we are in a pandemic, and tptb are in a rush to provide vaccines for millions of people. In the absence of further data, is there anything we can learn, even tentatively?
If HA is indeed a biological mimic, it could account for the very small but increased incidence of GBS after flu vaccines in general, and the 1976 one in particular. The effect of biological mimicry is, by definition, dependent on how closely the molecules are similar. To the extent that different HAs from different flu viruses have slight differences in conformation, they would probably have varying degrees of mimicry, such that vaccines made from these HAs may therefore have varying ability to induce GBS. Which is compatible with the varying incidence of GBS reported after seasonal flu vaccinations in different years. (see Haber 2004, Guillain-Barré Syndrome Following Influenza Vaccination)
Read on...
by: SusanC
Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 19:45:18 PM EDT
The 1976 vaccine was correlated with an increased incidence of GBS, which, according to a recent study described earlier, may be due to molecular mimicry, between the HA molecule and human gangliosides, proteins that permeate our nervous system.
Ideally one would want to repeat the study and confirm the findings, at least, but we are in a pandemic, and tptb are in a rush to provide vaccines for millions of people. In the absence of further data, is there anything we can learn, even tentatively?
If HA is indeed a biological mimic, it could account for the very small but increased incidence of GBS after flu vaccines in general, and the 1976 one in particular. The effect of biological mimicry is, by definition, dependent on how closely the molecules are similar. To the extent that different HAs from different flu viruses have slight differences in conformation, they would probably have varying degrees of mimicry, such that vaccines made from these HAs may therefore have varying ability to induce GBS. Which is compatible with the varying incidence of GBS reported after seasonal flu vaccinations in different years. (see Haber 2004, Guillain-Barré Syndrome Following Influenza Vaccination)
Read on...
