August is National Immunization Awareness Month, an annual observance to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages. Many Americans have embraced the myth that vaccines cause a number of conditions, including autism. This fear originated with a 1997 study published by Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon. Published in The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, the study suggested that the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine was increasing autism in British children. The paper has since been discredited due to serious errors in the way the study was conducted and conflicts of... Read More

In 2018, an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and over 600 thousand people will die from the disease. Recently, a phase I trial was conducted testing a personalized vaccine’s ability to hold an aggressive group of cancers in check. The trial is the first step to determining if a vaccine can stop cancer in its tracks. The promising new cancer vaccine cured up to 97 percent of tumors in mice and will soon be tested in humans for the first time. Researchers from Stanford University will test the therapy in about 35 people with lymphoma by the end of... Read More