Prof Fiona Russell
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fionarussell.bsky.social
Prof Fiona Russell
@fionarussell.bsky.social
Global child health, infectious diseases, vaccines, evidence based health policy

Director Child & Adolescent Health PhD Program, The University of Melbourne

co-Chair @WSPID ISC

WHO SAGE 2026+

My views
Our new paper on the efficacy of 1 dose of Azithromycin given to 2100 pregnant women in labour on infant skin & soft tissue infections in Fiji: blinded, placebo RCT

Congratulations to Maeve, Steph, Tupou & the team

bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
The safety and efficacy of a single dose of oral azithromycin given in labour to prevent skin and soft tissue infections in young infants in Fiji: a randomised controlled trial - BMC Medicine
Background Prophylactic azithromycin in pregnancy has been shown to lower infections in birthing parents and newborns, particularly skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) which are common in Fiji. We...
bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com
April 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The Pacific Paediatric Conference is on 25-27 April

I look forward to speaking on
Sustaining Resilient Immunisation Policy, Including During Times of Crises

www.pacificpaediatrics.com/events
April 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
The power of vaccines- one of the greatest public health success stories of the last century.

Their success shown in 3 charts 👇

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
April 9, 2025 at 7:08 AM
At the 2nd Global Clinical Trials Forum this week, the action plan for clinical trial strengthening was discussed
 
Now more than ever is good quality research needed to inform health policy.
 
Other @WHO clinical trial resources and tools are here:

www.who.int/our-work/sci...
Strengthening clinical trials
www.who.int
April 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Investment in early childhood is highly cost-effective with changes to lifelong health

But there’s knowledge gaps

Children are often missing from trials

Our paper on how to improve this situation

t.co/KxCc2qk9CF
March 27, 2025 at 5:51 AM
The Pacific Paediatric Conference is coming up soon

Honoured to be invited & to talk on this important topic:

Sustaining Resilient Immunisation Policy including during times of crises

www.pacificpaediatrics.com/events
March 18, 2025 at 10:23 PM
US CDC’s plan to study measles vaccine & autism is yet another example of research waste

This Q has already been answered in many studies

There is no link between measles vaccine & autism

But there is a big link between measles infection & death

publications.aap.org/aapnews/news...
March 11, 2025 at 8:42 PM
5 years since COVID was declared a pandemic, we’re still poorly prepared for the next one

And even more poorly prepared if it’s a virus that effects children - like influenza - which it will be one day

theconversation.com/5-years-sinc...
5 years since COVID was declared a pandemic, we’re still poorly prepared for the next one
It’s more than likely we’ll face another pandemic in the future. So what can we learn from COVID?
theconversation.com
March 11, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Should science be political?

“Instead of asking whether science should be political, we should ask how politics can be more scientific”

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Should science be political?
At this point in time, with US President Trump's administration attacking institutions such as the US CDC, NIH, USAID, WHO, and their people and functions, whether science should be political seems li...
www.thelancet.com
March 10, 2025 at 8:35 AM
French study on break through RSV
during monoclonal antibody use, nirsevimab.

RSV-A infections did not reveal any substitution in sites known to be associated with resistance.

2/24 RSV-B breakthrough infections had resistance-associated substitutions

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of respiratory syncytial virus after nirsevimab breakthrough infections: a large, multicentre, observational, real-world study
This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the largest genotypic and phenotypic surveillance study of nirsevimab breakthrough infections to date. Nirsevimab breakthrough variants remain very rare de...
www.thelancet.com
March 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM