HPV vaccine

In chapter 8, “Dr. Shope’s Warty Rabbits,” author Michael P. Branch describes the scientist who unearthed the viral cause of strange growths on wild rabbits.

The Johns Hopkins University researcher’s work helped solidify the link between human papillomavirus and cervical cancer, leading to the approval of the HPV vaccine in 2006.

Physician Peter Gøtzsche, a board member of the organization, has been an outspoken critic of certain vaccines and of the pharma industry in general.

Douglas Lowy and John Schiller, whose work led to the HPV vaccine, and Michael Hall, who discovered the TOR pathway, win this year’s prizes.

Oncologists have raised concerns about a mouse study that suggests the vaccine for human papillomavirus could cause brain damage.

The editor in chief of Vaccine has “temporarily removed” a study, published on the journal’s website in January, which suggested the aluminum adjuvant in an HPV vaccine caused behavioral changes in mice.