Diplomatic Immunity

Samoa’s devastating measles epidemic – why and how bad?

Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 28, 2019

Samoa are experiencing a devastating measles epidemic. It is possible that 2-3% of the population will ultimately be infected by the time it is over. Hopefully the mass immunisation campaign currently under way can mitigate some of this, for many it is too late. (Updated 3 Dec 2019)(Updated 7 Feb 2020) The first question many people ask is “why?” The … Read More

Whooping cough vaccine works well despite its imperfections

Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 07, 2019

Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to address some misconceptions about pertussis vaccines. Seven key points in … Read More

Why are vaccinated people getting measles?

Helen Petousis Harris • Sep 04, 2019

Here is a very quick and over simplified explanation about why some of the cases of measles are fully vaccinated (epidemiologists look away!). The vaccine is not 100% protective. One dose is around 92% and two doses around 98%. Generally, things look like this pie chart, assuming the vaccine is potent and the patients relatively healthy. Most cases occur in … Read More

Why is there a rip-roaring measles outbreak in NZ?

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 21, 2019

As with many countries around the world, NZ is experiencing the worst measles outbreak in over 20 years. Welcome back to the dark ages. This was predictable, entirely preventable, and the government were warned. If this outbreak is not stamped out by March next year NZ will lose its hard-earned measles elimination status. There are four reasons for this – … Read More

Authentic resistance or authentic distortion?

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 05, 2019

Authentic resistance appears to be a two woman army advocating that the body’s natural immune system is all that is required to keep healthy. They assert that parents must make an informed decision about vaccines based on information from the medical literature. On the latter point we agree. The Resistance is holding seminars around the country on “Informed consent and … Read More

How many nails does it take to secure the MMR/Autism coffin?

Helen Petousis Harris • Mar 05, 2019

Twenty-one years ago the most significant piece of medical piffle was published in a prestigious journal under fraudulent pretences. The now long since retracted article proposed that the MMR vaccine caused autism based of the purported claims of 8 parents. Yes eight (8). Same number of legs on an octopus. Same number of babies delivered by Octomom … Read More

Killer meningococcal disease outbreak – some context

Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 30, 2018

Is there a killer epidemic of meningococcal disease in NZ? In 2018, as of November, 10 people in NZ died of meningococcal disease and six of these deaths were caused by Group W (as opposed to A, B, C, Y, and Z). Historically most deaths in NZ have been caused by Group B so this is a change. Group W … Read More

Meningococcal rare but deadly, yes there are vaccines

Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 07, 2018

Meningococcal disease is scary, really scary. Like many of our most insidious diseases meningococcal disease often presents like a flu, and most people who present with a flu-like illness have… a flu like illness. How much meningococcal disease is in NZ? In 2014 NZ had 45 cases and in 2017 there were 112. So far … Read More

How safe is the MMR vaccine?

Helen Petousis Harris • Jul 13, 2018

In the tiny Pacific Nation of Samoa, on Friday 6 July 2018, two babies died shortly after receiving MMR vaccine. How could this happen? Lots of discussion is going around about this tragedy, and even more questions. Here are some responses to the things I have been asked this week summarised under the headings below. About MMR vaccines How … Read More

Move over ASIA now we have HANS

Helen Petousis Harris • May 12, 2018

There appears competition to claim discovery of HPV syndromes. Another in a list of attempts at assassinating the safety of HPV vaccine has been retracted this week. This time from Nature Scientific Reports. Grant Jacobs has provided a commentary on another just a day earlier. That one is a real doozer, an author with a fake name … Read More

About Diplomatic Immunity

Diplomatic Immunity is the blog of Dr Helen Petousis-Harris who comments about immunisation, the science underpinning it and the pseudoscience often spread about types of immunisation.

The views expressed on this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the owners of SciBlogs.co.nz, the Science Media Centre or the Royal Society of New Zealand.

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