Suzanne Humphries on vaccines: what the evidence says · JRE #2294
SUBJECT: VACCINES
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
So if you're testing a measles vaccine, you know, you could test it against a diphtheria vaccine or a flu shot vaccine is tested against a hepatitis A vaccine. There's no saline placebo because the few studies that exist with saline placebos show how bad the vaccine actually is and how it makes you not only not respond to the disease when it comes around, but more susceptible to it in many cases.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
It is true that some vaccine trials use an active comparator (an existing vaccine) rather than a saline placebo, but the sweeping claim that saline placebos are essentially never used is false. Many vaccines in the U.S. childhood schedule, including polio, measles, rotavirus, influenza, pneumococcal and HPV vaccines, have been evaluated in randomized saline or inert placebo controlled trials. When an effective vaccine already exists, a WHO expert panel and FDA both note that giving some participants a saline placebo can be unethical because it leaves them unprotected, so an active comparator is used to demonstrate non-inferiority. The second part of the claim, that the few saline-controlled studies reveal vaccines make recipients more susceptible to the target disease, is unsupported: no credible evidence shows licensed vaccines generally increase susceptibility, and placebo-controlled trials of these products found them safe and protective.