Helen Petousis Harris • Feb 21, 2018 •
There exists a sustained brouhaha around the nature of the placebos used in the clinical trials for Gardasil. The notion that some of the most rigorous vaccine trials ever conducted are questionable on account of their well thought out placebos is ill conceived at best. This is after over 270 million doses and huge epidemiological studies from all over the … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Feb 19, 2018 •
In the clinical trials for HPV vaccines cervical cancer was not a primary endpoint. An endpoint in a clinical trial is a disease or a symptom of interest. I want to explain why cancer was not an endpoint these efficacy studies. Instead surrogate endpoints were used. Why not, given that is what the investigators wanted to prevent? Because you can’t … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 13, 2017 •
The perception of risk is greatly influenced by the media and related to the relationship between hazard and outrage, or Risk = Hazard + Outrage (Sanderman). Basically, the risks that can kill you are often not the risks that get you all alarmed. I am a bit scared of things with at least six legs but genes dictate it … Read More
Guest Work • Mar 30, 2017 •
By Dave Hawkes, University of Melbourne The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced in Australia in 2007 and New Zealand in 2008 to prevent cervical cancer. It was free for women up to age 26 in Australia and to all women under 20 in New Zealand. This is because 99.7% of cervical cancers are associated with the sexually transmissible … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Feb 20, 2017 •
Gardasil was assessed in Double Blind Randomised Placebo Controlled Trials that used the fully formulated vaccine and compared it with two different placebos, the aluminium adjuvant and a saline solution. What is a placebo? A placebo is a substance as similar as possible to the active drug except it has no therapeutic effect. It does not … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Feb 14, 2017 •
As we enter a new year and school-based vaccination programmes get cracking the recycled crazy myths raise their ill-founded serpent heads again. This week it is the notion that Gardasil causes infertility by inducing Primary Ovarian Failure/insufficient (POF). It is popping up on social media – again. The fact is that Gardasil does not cause infertility. By infertility I refer to the … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Jul 28, 2016 •
Today PHARMAC announced their changes to funded vaccines. Basically they did what PHARMAC do, and within their given budget they negotiated the best deal they could with the suppliers to prevent as much disease as possible. After all, that is what we want them to do on our behalf. So who wins and who loses? The reality is, that like … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Jun 23, 2016 •
Last month members of the Nordic Cochrane posted a letter of complaint to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on their website. Does this mean that members of the Nordic Cochrane have uncovered previously undiscovered evidence about the HPV vaccine? No! The vaccine has an excellent safety profile and as of todays date the scientific community are unanimous about that fact. But … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 06, 2015 •
Following on from extensive hysteria and bad press in many countries, including Denmark and Japan, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) investigated the issue that’s been dubbed “HPV vaccination syndrome”. They have concluded that scientific evidence DOES NOT support that HPV vaccines cause complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Sep 24, 2015 •
Continued from HPV vaccination syndrome: Surely extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Pt 1. The questionnaire based ‘study’ is even worse than the hypothesis. Following on from yesterday’s blog about “HPV vaccination syndrome” I want to address a few issues about the accompanying report “HPV vaccination syndrome. A questionnaire-based study.” First, the introductory text is identical … Read More