vaccinations

Japan's health ministry says it's continuing its suspension of pediatric vaccines made by Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis, despite finding no connection between the vaccines and the deaths of four children. Both drugmakers are cooperating with the government and expect to be cleared.

Vaccine makers such as Pfizer are breathing easier now that the Supreme Court has ruled they can't be sued for defective vaccine designs. The majority opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia was unequivocal: Congress has barred lawsuits over the rare but unavoidable side effects of vital vaccines.

The 1998 study linking the MMR vaccine to autism has been utterly debunked. So 13 years later, how many lives have been lost and how much money has been wasted treating the preventable illnesses that fear-mongering led to? Here are some answers.

Aside from the embarrassment, researchers know deceptions like the autism research fraud can have much larger consequences, both for the parents of autistic children and for the future of their studies. Says one prominent scientist: "It taints a lot of very good work that goes on."

Having an autistic child can present seemingly nonstop challenges for families. Among those are thousands of dollars spent in the hopes, fleeting as they may be, of finding a cure for the exasperating illness. And lining up a qualified doctor can be a full-time job.

It's bad enough that the H1N1 swine flu pandemic has caused such widespread public anxiety, and it's worse that the vaccine has become its own source of concern, whether due to the shortage or spurious fears about its safety. Now, the bottom-feeders known as phishing scammers are exploiting the...

Swine flu is being billed as a potential killer this winter, but health officials still tell us the best public defense is washing our hands. Everyone should get H1N1 flu shots, the feds say, yet media reports warn there may not be enough vaccine. Some suggest the seasonal flu shot actually...

As swine flu vaccinations started this week across the country in the government's effort to immunize more than half the nation in a few months, expect online scammers to begin doing their thing by selling fake vaccinations. The small initial shipments of the real vaccine are being reserved by...

Wal-Mart is in talks with the federal government to use its stores as vaccination sites against the H1N1 virus. Jokes aside about rolling back prices, this makes so much sense, it's difficult to believe it could actually happen. I've seen flu vaccination sites in some of the darndest places...