vaccination

Posted on Multiple Sclerosis

Great news for people with multiple sclerosis – the COVID-19 vaccine is not associated with an increased risk of relapse.

Researchers identified immune cells as a potential key factor for protection against MS disease

“People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are at higher risk of severe coronavirus infection. However, there has been concern about potential relapse after vaccination. A recent study discovered that people with MS may not face a greater risk of relapse after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. This study was published in the online issue of Neurology®,

“People with MS face a higher risk of severe COVID infection due to their level of motor disability or exposure to treatments that suppress their immune systems,” said study author Xavier Moisset, MD, PhD, of Clermont Auvergne University in Clermont-Ferrand, France. “Some previous studies have shown relapses after vaccination, causing some people to skip the recommended booster doses. The good news is that our study found no increased risk of relapse after COVID-19 vaccination for nearly all participants.”

Researchers discovered a small increase in relapse risk after a booster dose for patients with high MS activity. This was particularly evident in individuals who experienced at least two relapses in the previous two years, especially those who were not taking any MS medications.

The study included 124,545 individuals with MS in France. They had been living with MS for an average of 14 years and were monitored for 45 days after receiving the vaccine. This period was chosen because potential vaccine-induced relapses typically occur within 28 days after vaccination.

During the study, 102,524 individuals, representing 82% of the participants, received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Among them, 95% completed the full vaccination regimen by receiving a second dose, and 59% received an additional booster dose.

In the 45 days following vaccination, researchers examined relapses that required treatment with high-dose corticosteroids.

“After adjusting for other factors that could affect the likelihood of a relapse, such as the time of year and the effect of disease-modifying therapy, researchers found that COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of severe relapse. These results remained consistent after each dose.”

To confirm the findings, researchers compared people who had relapses with those who did not. Once again, they found no increased risk of vaccine exposure. Instead, they identified a slight decrease in relapse risk following vaccination.

“Our findings are reassuring: these vaccines can be used without any worry about the risk of relapse,” Moisset said. “The absence of such a risk is encouraging for people with MS. They may receive booster shots when needed, especially if booster shots are to be repeated in the future.”

“Moisset emphasized extra caution when considering booster vaccinations for patients with high inflammatory activity. It’s important for these patients to first receive disease-modifying treatment. Undertreated individuals and those with highly active disease showed a slightly increased risk after receiving the third vaccine dose. The risk was highest when both factors were combined.”

Leave a comment Posted on Autism

Are Vaccines Safe? From the POV of a New Dad




Hi, I’m Joe – a new dad and owner of KitsToys.co.uk.

I’m a new dad, and as a new dad, I’ve had quite a lot to learn quite quickly – I never really got involved with babies until now. One thing that struck me is that no matter what it is you’re doing if there’s a baby involved then there is someone out there to tell you that you’re doing it wrong!

An obvious example is vaccination. Most people are either unthinkingly neutral or genuinely are in support of immunisation. And In the UK, the NHS (National Health Service) has a vaccination schedule for newborns which includes about 13 vaccinations before the kid is much more than a year old.

The thing is, there is a pretty vocal contingent that insists that vaccines lead to all sorts of nasty complications – not just side effects and acute reactions, but life-altering conditions such as autism.

With so much conflicting information out there, what should one do?

I turned, as one does, to Google. Obviously, not the best source of medical information, but I did so anyway. If you try “are vaccines effective” then you end up with a pretty even split between for and against – the big, obvious thing is that the downside seems pretty huge compared to the benefits. I mean, who gets polio these days anyway?




It’s an easy trap to fall into – an action which elicits a negative consequence seems much more unpleasant than a negative result that comes about by itself. So, “vaccines lead to autism” is scarier than “not vaccinating leads to the spread of disease”.

So, I dug a little deeper. There are some familiar tropes used by critics of vaccination which are easy to see through – I’ve gone into a bit more detail in a series of posts on my web page.

But it turns out that there is if you can cut through it once you’re familiar with the details. For instance, a favourite trick of vaccine critics is to present an incomplete picture of the data or to misrepresent the data in some way. A good example is the use of graphs to show the precipitous decline in diseases before the introduction of the appropriate vaccine.

Often, these graphs demonstrate a decrease in the death rate associated with a disease, polio for instance. But it needs to be borne in mind that a vaccine isn’t a cure as such, nor a treatment for a condition – it works by preventing the disease from occurring in the first place.

Polio, for instance, can be treated quite successfully now using interventions such as negative pressure ventilation (commonly known as an iron lung) to aid the sufferer to breathe. Whereas before this would have lead to death, now it is possible to live through such an illness.

This sort of advance in medicine means that a chart showing death rate associated with a disease may well indicate a declining death rate, even if a vaccine isn’t available – but this is because death is prevented, not because the disease is less prevalent.

In contrast, if you look at a graph which charts incidence of the disease over time, you’ll see a strong correlation between the number of cases reported and the introduction of the vaccine.

Polio and Vaccinations

Polio and Vaccinations

(clipped from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/polio.html)

Just to give a picture of how effective vaccination is, I’ve drawn up this graphic with a few stats. It’s incredible to think that the incidence of a disease has been cut by 99.96% by the introduction of this medicine.

Hopefully, common sense like this will prevail eventually.




Vaccine Infographic

Vaccine Infographic

Leave a comment Posted on Patient Talk

Immunisation – A quarter of us don’t take every chance they get to protect themselves against disease




A quarter of Brits don’t take every chance they get to protect themselves against disease

A quarter of Brits don’t take every chance they get to protect themselves against disease

 

  • 23% do not believe that if vaccination uptake drops, disease outbreaks are likely to occur
  • More than a quarter (27%) would not take every opportunity to protect themselves against diseases through vaccination
  • Majority of Brits are unaware about how much time and money goes into the development of vaccinations

In 1803, British physician Edward Jenner devised a technique to prevent smallpox by injecting sufferers with the cowpox virus – it’s now 40 years since the last case was contracted and according to the World Health Organisation, only clean drinking water rivals vaccination in its ability to save lives.

Vaccination is a public health priority with a potential to save six million lives globally each year. Vaccines prevent illness and disability and can save public money. It is estimated, the societal value in the UK alone of the NHS immunisation program has been estimated at nearly £6.6bn per year.




But while the vast majority of the nation (88%) believe that prevention is better than cure, new research released today by global healthcare company GSK shows that more than a quarter (27%) of the public say they would not take every opportunity to protect themselves against diseases through vaccination.

And just under a quarter (23%) do not believe that if vaccination uptake drops, disease outbreaks are likely to occur. Vaccine development is a process that involves painstaking research, between 100-500 rigorous quality checks and lengthy approval processes before vaccines are available for public use. It takes up to 30 years to approve each vaccine and then up to a further 26 months to manufacture. The majority of the nation, however, appears to be unaware about how long it takes to create a vaccine with almost a quarter of those surveyed believing it takes only a month to manufacture a vaccine.

The nation understands the importance of good health, with about three quarters of Brits saying they would take every opportunity to protect themselves against diseases through vaccination and the same proportion of people willing to consider paying for a vaccine.




2 Comments Posted on Autism

Autism and Vaccination – what’s your take?

In 1998 Dr Andrew Wakefield published an article in the UK’s leading medical magazine “The Lancet” which argued that there was a connection between vaccination and autism.

Others argued the opposite and said there was no link between vaccinations and autism.

I thought it would be interesting to share with you some of the recent research on the subject of ASD and vaccines here.

But what I am really interested in is your views. There are two ways you can help. Firstly please take our pol on the subject which you can find here.

But it would be great if you could use the comments section below to share your experiences and views in more detail.

Please do bear in mind the sensitivity of the issue so we do ask for you to be charitable to others taking part in the discussions.

Thanks very much!


Vaccines and Autism
Source: Healthcare-Management-Degree.net

Leave a comment Posted on Infectious Diseases, Patient Talk, Public Health

Are you at risk from the ‘flu this winter? Read our interview with Dr Jonathan Pittard


Do you need a flu jab?

Do you need a flu jab?

More than half of Doctors think the main reason at-risk patients do not take up flu vaccination is because they are concerned the vaccine itself could give them flu-like symptoms, according to results of a recent survey.

53 per cent of professionals polled rated this as the top reason why they think at-risk patients – including over 65s, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems because of other diseases – miss out on vaccination. It ranked in the top five reasons among 94 per cent of respondents.

The next biggest concern for HCPs was that patients who have not previously had flu do not consider themselves at risk, with 86 per cent placing this in the top five reasons patients miss the jab. And 76 per cent said patients being unaware of the increased risk of complications from flu were among the top five reasons.

Flu is an infectious viral illness spread by coughs and sneezes. It is different from the common cold because it is caused by different viruses and tends to result in more severe and long-lasting symptoms. Flu can be prevented through good hygiene, vaccination and, in some cases, antiviral medication.

During the last flu season, uptake of the flu vaccine varied in at risk groups with just around 40% of pregnant women and 73% of over 65s being immunised across England.


To find out more we contacted an interview with Dr Jonathan Pittard, a UK based family doctor.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Thanks for taking time to talk us Dr Pittard, can you start by telling us what influenza is?

DR PITTARD: Well influenza is a viral illness of several different strengths but you only get one at a time. Essentially it gives you a very high fever, and a very bad headache and a very bad muscle ache. So essentially for 4 or 5 days you are sneezing and snuffling a bit, you can hardly stand up, you can get to the bathroom and back to your bed and you feel pretty dreadful. It is a bit like having malaria so it is way worse than a cold.

PATENTTALK.ORG: And, what are the different types of flu and how do they infect people?

DR PITTARD: There are two classifications; there is A influenza and B influenza.  B has by reputation to be slightly more severe. The most recent A one that people will be familiar with would be swine flu, which came out in 2009-10.  We vaccinated a lot of pregnant women then because it was worst in pregnancy.  The actual illness I had in April of that year and happily it was just for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday so I didn’t miss any work but the current vaccine has a 2009 strain in and two from 2012.  One of A vaccine and one of B virus and they were identified in the States. In the case of Swine flu it came up from Mexico from pigs to humans and that’s how it has picked up.  So the World Health Organisation keeps an eye out for this like Sherlock Holmes and spots what the trends would be; the virus strains that we haven’t had in Europe and it will put the manufacturers on advice to make the vaccine to anticipate the ones we haven’t had.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Could you just tell us a little bit about the particular danger posed by the different strains of flu,  such as bird flu.

DR PITTARD: Well the biology of it seems that these viruses, similar with the Ebola virus, they seem to get into animal systems and seem to mutate there. And then there are places in China in case of bird flu there are a lot of poorer Chinese who will live with chickens in their house and because chickens are kind of valuable they keep them under their beds, you can well imagine if you stay with a chicken long enough it may share one of its viruses with you, and when the jump is made from avian bird flu to a human often the human system reacts very badly to it, and there have been one or two deaths.  So it is quite interesting biology.  In the case of the Ebola virus, it was bush meat and people were eating these animals and getting these animal viruses.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Can you just briefly outline how the flu jab works?

DR PITTARD: What happens is the myth that the survey shows, people object to the flu vaccine on the one ground is maybe that they think it will give them the flu.  Some viruses are actively vaccinated into us.  Polio used like that – it was audited in a way that it didn’t make you ill but it gave you immunity for life.  With the flu vaccine they extract the infectious part and they just give you the virus ‘skin’, to give it to you in simpler terms and it then prompts your immune system to look out for that virus when you meet it live in the future. So after about ten days you meet the live virus your immune system won’t take a hold because it will recognise the skin, the armour if you like, and will destroy it before it starts with the  Interferon that is the body’s anti-viral.  So it is a dead vaccine, it won’t give you the flu.

PATENTTALK.ORG: So is it a myth, then – that you may develop symptoms of flu by having the jab?

DR PITTARD: Yes, I think what happens is when people go to the doctors they pick up a virus in winter, they are incubating it they get hit in the waiting room or the supermarket on the way home, and it coincides with the flu vaccine and for a few patients they say “Oh, well that is what has given me the flu, I should not have had the flu vaccine”, and so they become adverse to it.  Most of our patients don’t subscribe to that but that is what the survey, Ipsos Moray GSK Survey showed.  And so we are really keen to expose that as a myth.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Are there any possible complications from having the flu vaccine?

DR PITTARD: Well the headline objection that’s very rare is that if a patient has true intolerance to eggs, and you might not like eggs, you might not like egg soufflé or egg fried rice or omelettes but that is not an allergy an allergy is where your tongue swells up, your eyes close, you need adrenalin, and you get very asthmatic I mean that is very rare to eggs it is probably as rare as being allergic to milk but because the vaccine is prepared using live hens eggs which is un-purified there is a theoretical objection to that, but that is the only headline issue. If for example you are very allergic to rare ingredients in the flu vaccine, the preservatives in the other vaccines you have had a reaction to tetanus, you have had a reaction to pneumonia vaccine, then possibly your doctor will know that.  These are very rare 1 in 10,000 or 1 in 1,000,000 cases.  For the bulk of us, none of that applies. If you can tolerate eggs, you can tolerate the flu vaccine.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Who is particularly at risk from believing in these myths?

DR PITTARD: The best way to answer that is the “at risk” population. Most GPs are concerned with the over 65’s because you tolerate flu worse and worse as you get older.  The rest of your biology is compromised by aging; heart, lungs and so on.  You are more likely to get pneumonia and you are less likely to be able to look after yourself.  Younger patients that battle on are a bit stronger I guess.  So the national policy is to vaccinate the over 65’s and also vaccinate people with pneumonia and bronchitis risks, diabetic risks, heart disease risks and one of the two groups like care workers and ambulance drivers.  These are the people that need the vaccine and they are the ones that are likely to object for grounds of getting the flu from the flu vaccine, which is not true.  The other objections that the survey showed is they thought that they never got the flu so they didn’t need it. Of course eventually, it is like Russian roulette, they will get it.

PATENTTALK.ORG: Final question, what is your advice to anyone who might be worried about getting the flu?

DR PITTARD: Well, the national policy which had thousands of patients seeing their GP’s in October / November and the GP’s keep the flu vaccine in their surgery, their special clinics, and kept in touch with their practice, if you have moved area just talk to the reception staff and they will make it very easy for you to get your vaccine.  If you are concerned that you may have a particular risk then you can have a consultation with your GP by phone for example, and they can often phone you back, book an appointment to talk about it or if you are outside of the risk group that the NHS will vaccinate you then you can still go to pharmacy chains and buy the vaccine for about £10, maybe less, and have it yourself. There are very few contraindications of having this, it is a very safe procedure.