Another study showing the benefits of vaccines

[rlneub]

Sero replacement. How fun is that?!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18845981

[mamakay]

Vax all the babies now, figure out how it all works later.
Great. Brilliant.
Good work, ACIP.

[Gitti]

A retrospective review of medical records for all pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) patients admitted to our hospital from 1996 to 2006 revealed that PPE increased 5-fold in the post-heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) period (2001-2005) relative to the pre-PCV7 period (1996-2000), from 13 cases to 65.

Most of this increase was associated with culture-negative empyema, which accounted for 61% of all post-2000 cases; 19% was culture-positive pneumococcal empyema.

Our analysis indicates that non-PCV7 serotypes became more prevalent at our institution after introduction of the vaccine.

(87 words)

[Deborah]

Maybe figure it out later. Maybe not.

The most irritating thing is that even when they begin to realize that they've screwed up they hardly ever backtrack.

Shingles, shingles everywhere, but no consideration whatsoever that it might be a good idea to reduce the chickenpox vaccine to a "special cases" only treatment.

I'm grumpy tonight.

[Ruthla]

Whoa- hospitalization increased 5 fold AFTER the introduction of the vaccine? Does this mean that kids were actually sicker with this respiratory problem after getting the vaccine, or just that doctors were quicker to hospitalize for it? Did the vaccine have zero effect or did it make for more sick kids?

[mamakay]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

Whoa- hospitalization increased 5 fold AFTER the introduction of the vaccine? Does this mean that kids were actually sicker with this respiratory problem after getting the vaccine, or just that doctors were quicker to hospitalize for it? Did the vaccine have zero effect or did it make for more sick kids?

Well, it was hospitalizations for that one specific outcome that increased.
With these vaccines, there are all kinds of trade-offs.
It's nearly impossible to tell what the overall effect on human health is. Nobody's watching.
The CDC decided it wasn't worth watching, so we're left mostly in the dark.