All Blog Posts from Primary Source

Last July, CBS News investigated allegations of conflicts of interest among "independent" experts who comment on vaccine safety, and the companies that manufacture vaccines. One widely-quoted defender of vaccine safety, Dr. Paul Offit of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was mentioned in the report in connection to his anti-diarrhea vaccine Rotateq, which he helped develop with Merck.

At the time, neither Dr. Offit nor Children's Hospital would provide information ...

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In 1994, the government's Immunization Advisory Committee recommended routine vaccination against hepatitis B virus. It was a widely welcomed strategy to fight a serious and sometimes deadly disease. The CDC currently recommends vaccination for "all infants, beginning at birth," people under age 19, and at-risk adults. But after nearly 15 years, there's debate over who should receive this vaccine and when.

How is Hep B "caught" or transmitted?

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There’s a new study in the Public Library of Science regarding vaccine measles and autism which purports to disprove a vaccine/MMR/autism link.

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With the increase in number of vaccinations offered to parents for their children, and mandated by states not only for toddlers but for older children as well, there has been a strong public push to maintain a robust national immunization program while also ensuring vaccines are as safe as they can possibly be.

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With thousands of autism cases pending in federal vaccine court, and numerous test case decisions coming this fall, some are looking to see what-- if anything-- can be learned from prior court decisions.

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Any news report on vaccine-related issues is bound to generate a lot of public comment. That includes our report from a few weeks back on questions about conflicts of interest. One related question that some parents have asked is: what's the safest way to immunize my child? It's the subject of much debate in the medical and scientific community.

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Last fall, the federal government (which defends vaccines in cases before the federal vaccine court) conceded the case of Hannah Poling: one of nine autism "test cases" before the special court. The implications have been the subject of much debate. Government officials and some scientists portray the case as an exception without much meaning in the global picture.

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The debate over vaccines and autism/ADD is so sensitive that for some who are directly affected: it's gotten personal. No more personal, perhaps, than for the parents of Hannah Poling. Hannah developed autism as a toddler after a battery of vaccines. In a landmark case last fall, the federal government (which defends vaccines in federal vaccine court) quietly conceded that vaccinations resulted in Hannah's autism. The government has portrayed Poling's case as an exception because she had an undiagnosed condition (that may have been pre-existing): mitochondrial disorder. Many scientists and government officials agree with vaccine makers in portraying Poling as a "special case" that can "not be extrapolated to other vaccine-autism cases."

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Yesterday I spoke to the families of young women who believe the Gardasil HPV vaccine may have – or did in fact – cause their child's serious illness. One of the cases involves a now 18-year old young woman named Amanda.

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The hope is that Gardasil will prove to be a lifesaver, preventing deadly cervical cancer. But today Merck's HPV vaccine is dealing with a growing number of reports of serious side effects, CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

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