Diplomatic Immunity

Featured image: Fundamentally flawed study on COVID-19 vaccine safety is rapidly retracted

Fundamentally flawed study on COVID-19 vaccine safety is rapidly retracted

Helen Petousis Harris • Jul 03, 2021

The content of this blog has been adapted and expanded from comments I provided to Vaccines and Science this week. The perfectly respectable MDPI journal called Vaccines made a mistake but they addressed it fast. Somehow an article assessing vaccine safety and effectiveness that was fundamentally flawed and made outrageous claims slipped through the system. Not the first … Read More

Featured image: Correcting propaganda containing 8 false claims about COVID-19 vaccines

Correcting propaganda containing 8 false claims about COVID-19 vaccines

Helen Petousis Harris • Apr 28, 2021

This is a short blog addressing a list of falsehoods being posted widely across Aotearoa New Zealand. The flyer (posted at the end) claims ‘8 important covid vaccine facts you probably haven’t heard’. Actually, these are 8 of the most common myths about Covid-19 vaccines. Some have been around so long they probably qualify as zombie myths. The ‘golden … Read More

Featured image: The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is way beyond experimental

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is way beyond experimental

Helen Petousis Harris • Apr 25, 2021

An experiment is a procedure carried out to test a hypothesis. We have determined through experiment, with extremely high precision, that the Pfizer COVID-19 works very well and is very safe. The initial experiments were successful, moving on… However, there are some misconceptions flying around that abuse this concept and I thought they needed addressing with some interpretation and facts. Read More

COVID vaccines and blood clots – what is this about?

Helen Petousis Harris • Apr 15, 2021

I will update this post as new information comes to hand What has happened? Recently the vaccine safety watch dogs in Europe noted reports of unusual types of blood clots in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine. This prompted investigations across many countries to ascertain what, why, and how. Also, in the last couple of … Read More

Featured image: COVID-19 vaccines and community immunity (transmission)

COVID-19 vaccines and community immunity (transmission)

Helen Petousis Harris • Jan 22, 2021

Updated, 4 Feb 2021 to reflect new data on the AstraZeneca vaccine.  Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines  induce protection against illness, they … Read More

Featured image: Pressing the pause button after an adverse event happens to a vaccine trial participant

Pressing the pause button after an adverse event happens to a vaccine trial participant

Helen Petousis Harris • Sep 09, 2020

Today AstraZeneca pushed the pause button on its late-stage trials of a COVID-19 vaccine. A clinical trial participant has experienced a serious health event and an investigation is underway to determine the cause. What does it mean? A cautious approach – trials can halt to assess safety data With over 200 COVID-19 vaccines now under development … Read More

Featured image: COVID-19 vaccines and human cell lines

COVID-19 vaccines and human cell lines

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 26, 2020

When science meets ethics and morality. Vaccines are biological products and will have be exposed to various organic and inorganic products during their manufacture, depending on vaccine type. This includes exposure to human cells. Research that informs vaccine development will certainly have relied on such products along the way. Some people have faith, morality or safety-based concerns about the use … Read More