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Experts presenting at Friday’s CDC ACIP meeting confirmed that the childhood vaccination schedule is safe—and benefits outweigh known and possible risks. Plus, it’s hard to ignore the fact that air quality is getting worse—we explore why it matters to health and how biotech can help. (533 words, 2 minutes, 39 seconds) |
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Benefits of childhood vaccines outweigh ‘known and potential risks’ |
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A review of recent studies finds the recommended childhood vaccines are safe and benefits outweigh possible risks, a CDC advisory committee learned Friday.
What happened: As part of a three-day Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting, data from several studies on childhood vaccination schedule safety was presented on Friday, June 23.
The key takeaway: “The benefits of vaccination strongly outweigh the known and potential risks,” stressed Dr. Matt Daley of Kaiser’s Institute for Health Research.
How we got here: Research conducted in collaboration with CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink, one of several vaccine safety monitoring systems in the U.S., suggested cumulative exposure to aluminum in vaccines was associated with a small increased risk of asthma in children. However, a similar study from Denmark did not find an association.
Why it matters: Since the 1930s, small amounts of aluminum have been added to vaccines as an adjuvant—an ingredient that helps a vaccine work by encouraging a stronger immune response. But some parents, concerned about aluminum without scientific proof, have been delaying children’s vaccines.
The bottom line: Given the many limitations of the study design, the low statistical association found, and the benefits of vaccination, these findings do not indicate a need for change in the vaccine regime, said Dr. Daley. In the meantime, more research will be conducted with a larger cohort.
Additional studies confirmed vaccine safety: One study found exposure to antigens from multiple vaccines in early childhood did not increase risk of infections for which there are no vaccines; another study found no evidence of a link between vaccines and risk of Type 1 diabetes in children. Read the full coverage of the meeting in Bio.News. |
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The skies are getting smokier – can biotech provide solutions?
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Poor air quality and smoke-filled skies could become the norm. What can biotech do about it?
The situation: “Summer is only beginning, but Canada’s fire season is already one of the worst in its history,” writes Weill Cornell’s Dr. Dhruv Khullar in The New Yorker. “Days after smoke enveloped New York, an acrid haze descended on the Upper Midwest, pushing air quality in the Twin Cities to ‘very unhealthy’ levels and obscuring the Chicago skyline.”
Why it matters: “When it comes to our health, wildfire smoke may be the most injurious form of air pollution; according to one study, it can be ten times as toxic as other forms of pollution, including car exhaust,” continues Dr. Khullar.
A clear link to disease: A Harvard study found emissions from 2020 wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington “were associated with an 11.7% increase in COVID cases, and an 8.4% increase in COVID deaths,” reports Bloomberg.
We know air pollution kills—and studies have linked poor air quality to depression diagnoses in adults over 64, asthma and Lyme disease, premature deaths, and many more diseases.
Biotech has solutions—addressing the root problems of rising emissions and warming with sustainable transportation fuels that emit less carbon, carbon capture technology that can help eliminate existing carbon, and biomanufacturing to minimize other types of pollution. Now, we need to advance them.
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President Biden’s Monday: The President and Vice President are expected to make a major announcement today about high-speed internet infrastructure.
What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House and Senate are in recess through July 7. |
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