Neal Halsey

Neal Halsey, MD (b. 1950), is a pediatrician, with subspecialty training in infectious diseases and epidemiology, and a professor of international health and Director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Halsey is an advocate for change in immunization programs and vaccination schedules to improve the safety of vaccines for children. As part of a career largely dedicated to promoting vaccinations, in 1999 he spearheaded the precautionary movement to remove thimerosal from pediatric vaccines.

Education
Halsey received his MD in 1971 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Research and Professional Experience
Halsey has published more than 200 scientific articles in peer reviewed journals regarding vaccines and vaccine safety. He has contributed information to the Institute of Medicine[[(IOM) and the Public Health Service (PHS) for reviews of individual vaccine safety issues, provided expert testimony and reviews of [[vaccine injury legal claims involving the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVIC), vaccine makers, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He served with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the Immunization Division (now the National Immunization Program), and served on the Research and Development Group of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunization.  He has been a member or advisory member of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and is a member of the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Halsey's research is primarily directed toward the prevention of infectious diseases with the safest vaccines possible. He has conducted or participated in epidemiological studies of vaccine-preventable diseases and phase I, II, and III vaccine trials of hepatitis A, hepatitis B, inactivated polio virus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, tetanus, Lyme disease, rotavirus, Argentina Hemorrhagic Fever, and influenzae vaccine viruses. Measles control has been an interest of Halsey's, and he supports ongoing measles and polio eradication efforts. Halsey's ongoing studies include persistent poliovirus excretion in immunodeficient children, evaluation of Lyme disease vaccine in children, evaluation of alternative injection devices, and the safety of preservatives and adjuvants in vaccines.

Cessation of use of Thimerosal
Due to concerns that rises in vaccine injury cases and in reported cases of autism might be caused in part by thimerosal containing vaccines (TCVs), and at the urging of Halsey and other concerned experts, on July 7, 1999, the AAP and the PHS released a statement requesting vaccine makers to stop producing TCVs as soon as possible.

Institute for Vaccine Safety
Halsey is the director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety, which was established in 1997 at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Select Publications

 * Rollison DE, Helzlsouer KJ, Halsey NH, Shah KV, Viscidi RP. "Markers Of Past Infection With Simian Virus 40 And Risk Of Incident Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma In A Maryland Cohort". Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.  2005
 * Salmon DA, Moulton LH, Omer SB, deHart MP, Stokley S, Halsey NA. "Factors Associated with Refusal of Childhood Vaccines Among Parents of School-Aged Children: A Case-Control Study".  Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.  2005
 * Salmon D, Halsey NA, Moulton LH. "A dose of confidence. (editorial). Baltimore Sun, December, 2004
 * Salmon DA, Moulton LH, Halsey NA. "Enhancing Public Confidence in Vaccines through Independent Oversight of Post-Licensure Vaccine Safety". AJPH. 2004;94(6):947-50.
 * Salmon DA, Moulton LH, Omer SB, Chace LM, Klassen A, Talebian P, Halsey N. "Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs of School Nurses/Personnel and Associations with Non-Medical Immunization Exemptions". Pediatrics.  2004;113(6) pp. e552-e559.
 * Perry RT, Halsey NA. "The clinical significance of measles: a review". J Infect Dis.  2004 May 1;189 Suppl 1:S4-16.
 * Halsey NA, Pinto J, Espinosa-Rosales F, Faure-Fontenla MA, da Silva E, Khan AJ, Webster AED, Minor P, Asturias EJ, Hussain H, Pallansch MA, Kew OM, Winkelstein J, Sutter R, And the Polio project team. "Search for Poliovirus Carriers Among People with Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom". Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2004; 82(1):3-8.
 * Bonhoeffer J and the Brighton Collaboration (Halsey NA collaborator). "Nodule at Injection Site as an Adverse Event Following Immunization Case Definition & Guidelines for Data Collection, Analysis, and Presentation" (review).  Vaccine.  2004 Jan 26;22(5-6):575-85.
 * Bonhoeffer J and the Brighton Collaboration (Halsey NA collaborator). "Generalized Convulsive Seizure as an Adverse Event Following Immunization Case Definition & Guidelines for Data Collection, Analysis, and Presentation"  (review).  Vaccine.  2004 Jan 26;22(5-6):557-62.
 * MacIntyre CR, Kelly H, Jolley D, Butzkueven H, Salmon D, Halsey NA, Moulton LH, "Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and the risk of multiple sclerosis: A prospective study" (correspondence).  Neurology 2004.
 * Strebel PM, Papania MJ, Halsey NA. "Measles Vaccine".  Plotkin and Orenstein (eds).  Vaccines (4th ed);  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Saunders; 2004. p.389-440.
 * Moss WJ, Halsey NA. Vaccination of Human Immunodeficiency Virus – Infected Persons.  Plotkin and Orenstein (eds).  Vaccines  (4th ed); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Saunders; 2004. p.169-178.
 * Asturias EJ, Soto-Gonzalez M, Menendez R, Ramirez PL, Recinos F, Gordillo R, Dick JD, King B, Holt E, Halsey NA. "Meningitis and Pneumonia in Guatemala City Children:  the Importance of Haemophilus influenzae type b and Streptococcus pneumoniae".  Pan Am J Public Health 2003;14(6):377-83.
 * Halsey, NA. "Vaccine Safety: Real and Perceived Issues".  Bloom BR, Lambert PH, (eds).  The Vaccine Book.  San Diego, California: Academic Press; 2003.p371-385.
 * Moss WJ, Halsey NA. "Immunization of Children at Risk for Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus". Bull World Health Organ 2003;81(1):61-70. Review.
 * Bartlett J, Borio L, Radonovich L, Mair JS, O'Toole T, Mair M, Halsey N, Grow R, Inglesby TV. "Smallpox vaccination in 2003: key information for clinicians". Clin Infect Dis 2003 Apr;36(7):883-902.
 * Halsey NA. "Poliomyelitis and Unnecessary Injections" (commentary). International Journal of Epidemiology 2003:32:1-2.
 * Joan Klein, Halsey NA. "What Oncologists Should Know About the Smallpox Vaccine".  (Q&A)  Oncology Times 2003;XXV(2):3-4.
 * Halsey NA, Rose N. "Questions and Answers about Autoimmunity and the Smallpox Vaccine". IMAJ (The Israel Medical Association Journal) 2003;5(1):40-1.
 * Halsey NA. "A causal association between Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine and diabetes" (letter to the editor). Autoimmunity 2003;36(3):123.