Chris Marasco October 7, 2009
Pollack, Andrew. “In Vaccine Additive, Benefit and Doubt”, NY Times 22, Sept. 2009.SectD
Andrew Pollack presents a very interesting and informative article in The New York Times entitled, “In Vaccine Additive, Benefit and Doubt”. The article discusses the controversial topic over whether adjuvant, a substance that could increase the volume and potency of vaccines is a safe and viable solution that should be used to help protect poor countries from the flu epidemic. The premise and focal point of the article is whether there is substantial safety data available for the substance and whether the U.S. has an “obligation” to use adjuvants to help poorer countries. The U.S. cites various reasons for its hesitancy to use adjuvants at this time. Dr. Goodman who is the chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration believes that “there is just more uncertainty”. There is concern that the new fears will escalate at a time when there are already problems convincing people to get the regular vaccine. It is also believed that the current vaccine without adjuvant is very effective in fighting the flu. According to the article the U.S. is already providing 10% of the vaccines to other countries but wants more substantial data before agreeing to use adjuvant.
In opposition to the stand of the U.S., the World Health Organization is requesting the use of adjuvant now to help increase the supply and help poorer countries. They cite that other countries are already using adjuvant and yielding positive results. According to the article millions of doses of the vaccine with adjuvant have been used and found to be effective in Europe. The proponents of using adjuvant feel the U.S. should help the poorer countries now, instead of waiting for more data. In response the U.S. is exploring the use of adjuvant as more data becomes available. The swine flu has forced federal members to look into the use of adjuvant; however, because it is not yet approved and emergency use authorization would become necessary if it were needed.
I chose this article because it is an important topic that can affect every individual and society as a whole. Flu’s and illnesses can affect anyone at anytime and it is important to have safe vaccines to try and prevent as many illnesses as possible. Finding the best vaccine and having sufficient supply for all countries would be the optimal goal, however, it is very important to make sure the vaccine is safe first. Whether or not Americans are “obligated” to use an additive vaccine before completely proven to be safe just to help other countries is definitely debatable.
Andrew Pollack’s article was informative and pertinent; however, at certain parts I found the article to be a tad lengthy and somewhat redundant. Whereas the article does show both sides of the debate pertaining to using adjuvant it still does not provide enough information to help the reader decide one way or the other. I found the beginning of the article quite clear and interesting but the latter part a bit confusing and inconclusive.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like the way the article takes on this very scary topic of the swine flue, and whether or not the vaccine is totally safe. This article captures the readers attention showing them the benefits of the vaccine like how it can help protect poorer countries from getting the swine flue, but how it can also be a harm to our health. But it is also very important that it shows both opinions of the World Health Organization who thinks they should supply more vaccines to poorer countries instead of waiting for more results unlike the U.S that thinks they should test the vaccine a little more before sending it out to other nations. But despite how well this article was written, they could have mentioned which specific nations needed that vaccine, because not all countries are in danger of catching the swine flue. They also could have described where the U.S is in testing this vaccine at this very moment. But what I found the most interesting was that they haven't even sent out the vaccine in other countries, but they have it hear in the U.S.
ReplyDelete