The Concept of ‘Homeopathic Vaccines’ Is Not Rational and Lacks Evidence: A Commentary on the Paper by Loeb et al, 2018
Souvik Dutta,Subhasish Ganguly,Munmun Koley, Subhranil Saha
In 2018, Loeb et al published a double-blind, randomised trial on 150 students of McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.1 They assigned participants into three groups: (1) ‘homeopathic vaccines’ of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, mumps and measles; (2) placebo; or (3) conventional diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (Tdap) and mumps, measles, rubella (MMR) vaccines. Following administration, there was significant increase in the mean titres of immunoglob- ulin G (IgG) antibody from baseline for conventional vaccine antigens (p < 0.001 for each), but none for the response to homeopathic vaccines or placebo. The authors concluded that, in contrast to conventional vaccines, homeopathic vaccines do not evoke antibody responses but produce a response that is similar to placebo.
There were controversial elements in the adopted study design
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