|
|
|
|
|
Editorial: Accepting immunity |
|
| Ottawa Citizen |
|
| September 21, 2009 |
|
| "With a second wave of H1N1 flu
on the doorstep, Canadian public health officials face a serious stumbling
block in their battle to contain the coming pandemic: the anti-vaccine
movement. People who refuse to be vaccinated -- because they have misguided
medical fears or because they're making a quasi-political statement against
the scientific 'establishment'-- could derail progress aimed at reducing the
effects of this disease, the result being that a lot of people could get
seriously ill and die. Individual voices of concern about the H1N1 flu
vaccine have grown into a chorus in recent weeks, and the time has come for
health officials to mount a counter-offensive if they don't want to see
their vaccination programs sabotaged. This needs to be done quickly..." |
|
Child Deaths Fall, But 'Grossly Insufficient': U.N. |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 10, 2009 |
|
| "Childhood deaths have declined
across the world, data released on Thursday showed, but mortality is
increasingly concentrated in poor countries. A study by the United Nation's
children's fund (UNICEF) showed that thanks to better prevention methods for
malaria and action to reduce mother-to-child AIDS virus transmission, some
8.8 million children under five died in 2008 compared with 12.5 million in
1990. But 99 percent of child deaths occurred in poor countries..." |
|
U.S. Childhood Vaccine Rates Good but Could Be Better: CDC |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "More than three-quarters of
U.S. children have received the recommended vaccinations, but greater
efforts are needed to reach youngsters who are not fully immunized, a U.S.
government report finds. A 2008 survey of children from 19 months to 35
months of age, born between January 2005 and June 2007, found that 76.1
percent had received the recommended series of vaccines (called the
4:3:1:3:3:1 series), a rate statistically similar to the estimate of 77.4
percent in 2007. The national goal for coverage is 80 percent. 'Vaccination
is one of the most important things parents can do to protect their
children's health,' Dr. Melinda Wharton, deputy director of the National
Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a CDC news
release..." |
|
Speaking of Vaccinations . . .Flu's Not the Only Ill That Might Merit a
Preventive Shot |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "All the vaccine buzz is about
the H1N1 virus right now, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
is reminding Americans to make sure all of their vaccinations are
up-to-date. The CDC encourages adults to guard against vaccine-preventable
diseases such as shingles, human papillomavirus (HPV), tetanus, meningitis,
whooping cough and pneumococcal disease. If getting those shots hadn't
occurred to you, you're not alone. A survey released last month by the
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) found that about
three-quarters of American adults were extremely or very familiar with only
two vaccine-preventable diseases: influenza and chickenpox..." |
|
Special Sections: Immunization |
|
| Washington Times |
|
| August 7, 2009 |
|
View supplement devoted to
immunization articles and educational materials. |
|
During Immunization Awareness Month, Neonatal Care and Vaccination Go Hand
in Hand |
|
| Westside Gazette (FL) |
|
| August 5, 2009 |
|
| "What do infant mortality and
immunization have in common? A lot, in fact. Neo-natal care begins well
before a baby is born and helps to ensure that an infant is born healthy.
Immunization begins during a baby's first months and ensures that a child
remains healthy. Failure to receive either effective neonatal care or early
immunization can go a long way toward contributing to infant and
early-childhood mortality. Sadly, African Americans with lower incomes lag
behind when it comes to immunizations..." |
|
Many Young Adults Uninformed about Vaccines |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| "Vaccines are not only for children, but many young adults in the United States are unaware of the need to keep up with their shots, a new survey shows..." |
|
Immunization Classes Reach Out to Immigrant Communities |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| July 8, 2009 |
|
| "After attending an immunization training
session last year, JP Jael decided to broaden the content of his violence
prevention workshops. No parent would leave without information on
vaccinations as well, said Jael, a project coordinator for the non-profit
Asian Human Services, which provides social services for Chicago's pan-Asian
community. 'I think immunization is one of the things that they should
learn, especially in my community because they're not familiar with it,' he
said..." |
|
AMA Rejects Call for More Research on Vaccine Link to Autism, Reaffirms Immunization Policies |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| June 26, 2009 |
|
| “There's no need for more research into a possible link between vaccines and autism. But there is a continuing need for support of ongoing research into the true etiology of autism and its treatment. And physicians should continue to take a lead role in extolling the benefits of vaccines to health policymakers and the public. Those were among the messages recently sent by the AMA House of Delegates, which met June 13-17 in Chicago. A resolution submitted by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law initially proposed that the AMA reaffirm its support for universal vaccination, asked the AMA Council on Science and Public Health to review the most recent research on vaccines and autism, and urged the association to continue to support research into the etiology and treatment of autism. Although delegates at the meeting overwhelmingly supported the first and third resolves, they steadfastly opposed the request for a council review of vaccine research…" |
|
|
Parental Knowledge of Vaccinations Important |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "When parents are more knowledgeable
about vaccinations' their children are more likely to get them' a new
study shows. The study' which included parents of 630 Spanish children'
found that while most children received the recommended vaccinations'
parents' vaccine knowledge influenced the likelihood. When parents
scored below the average on a test of vaccine knowledge' their children
were 55 percent to 60 percent less likely to be on schedule with their
immunizations' according to findings published in the online journal BMC
Public Health. The findings suggest that if doctors do more to inform
parents about vaccine effectiveness and safety' they will be more likely
to keep their children on the recommended schedule' according to the
researchers' led by Dr. Eva Borras of the Department of Health in
Barcelona..." |
|
|
Risks: Pertussis Protection? Not From the Herd |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 8, 2009 |
|
| "The theory of herd immunity holds
that when most people in a group are vaccinated' everyone is protected —
even those who refuse the vaccine' as many families are doing these days
out of a belief that vaccinations cause autism and other illnesses. But
the theory does not appear to work well with whooping cough. Researchers
studied children enrolled in a Colorado health plan in the period 1996
to 2007' and found 156 laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis. They
recorded the vaccination status of each and matched them to 595 randomly
selected control subjects. After controlling for sex' age' season of
infection and other factors' they found that the unvaccinated children
were about 23 times as likely as vaccinated children to get whooping
cough. In other words' about 1 in 20 unvaccinated children were
infected' compared with 1 in 500 who were vaccinated. The study appears
in the June issue of Pediatrics..." |
|
|
Why Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick |
|
| Newsweek |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime
Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure
Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live
Your Best Life Ever!..." |
|
|
Rare Hib Disease Increases in Minnesota |
|
| City Pages |
|
| June 3, 2009 |
|
| "As the ultrasound tech spread the
cool gel over her swollen belly, Brendalee Flint held her breath. Would
it be another boy? Or would she finally get the daughter she'd always
wanted? She'd be happy either way, she reminded herself for the
umpteenth time.Flint peered at the strange white shape on the black
monitor. Even after three kids, the image still amazed her—watching the
heartbeat was so cool. The ultrasound tech pointed out the lungs, the
tiny hands, the little brain. The tech waited patiently. There! Now she
could see. It was a girl..." |
|
|
Will This Doctor Hurt Your
Baby? |
|
By Jason Fagone
Philadelphia Magazine |
|
| June 1, 2009 |
|
| "Thanks to celebrity anti-vaccine crusaders like Jenny McCarthy and
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.' Children's Hospital doctor and
vaccine inventor Paul Offit gets death threats from parents frantic
about autism - and worse. He's had enough. He's taking
his critics on. A few years ago' Paul Offit found himself in a small
room with a bob-haired American mother of three who was
so mad at him she had tears in her eyes' and she was standing above him'
sort of rearing up - this is his recollection - as
if she was preparing herself' mentally' physically' to call him
something cutting and mean'..." |
|
|
Editorial: A Dangerous Denial; Parents Who Choose Not to Vaccinate Are
Imperiling Public Health |
|
| Baltimore Sun |
|
| June 1, 2009 |
|
| "People believe all kinds of strange
things' and most of the time it doesn't matter. Trouble arises' however'
when their odd beliefs affect other people's health. Such'
unfortunately' is the case with parents who choose not to immunize their
children against diseases that killed and crippled millions before
vaccines were developed and made widely available. The anti-vaccine
movement is driven largely by parents who believe that certain vaccines
can cause autism' a suspicion that has been thoroughly investigated and
authoritatively debunked..." |
|
|
Unvaccinated Children at Increased Risk, Study Finds |
|
| Baltimore Sun |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "Children who are not vaccinated
against pertussis, or whooping cough, are 23 times more likely to
develop the disease than children who receive immunizations, according
to a study published online on Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, the
Baltimore Sun reports..." |
|
|
Blog: Should a Former Playboy Model Trump an Experienced Health Care
Expert? You Decide |
|
| Huffington Post |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "This weekend' Chicago-area parents
wondering whether or not to vaccinate their babies' toddlers' school-age
kids or teenagers face a tough decision when it comes to expert advice:
should they listen to Jenny McCarthy or to their pediatrician? McCarthy
is slated to give the key-note speech at the Autism One conference in
Rosemont on Saturday..." |
|
|
Letter to the Editor: Taking Shots for the Greater Good |
|
| TC Palm (FL) |
|
| May 14, 2009 |
|
| "Every day, as parents, we make
decisions we believe are in the best interest of our children...There is
another decision to be made: whether to vaccinate your child. The
difference here is that this choice not only affects your family, but
every family. There is ongoing debate whether vaccines cause autism.
Autism is a serious health concern that needs more funding and research
from government and pharmaceutical companies. To date, the evidence does
not support the theory that autism occurs from vaccinations. What we do
know is that life-threatening diseases are prevented with vaccinations.
Children don't have to suffer and die needlessly from diseases that are
preventable. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics is very
strong in its recommendations for vaccines. Decades of scientific,
evidenced-based research prove that vaccines save lives. As parents, we
must not let fear overrule fact. I, too, fear autism, but the facts are
overwhelming in support of vaccinating my 9-month-old son. Because he is
not fully protected yet, he contracted a life-threatening illness which
vaccines easily prevent..." |
|
|
Fear of Vaccines Spurs Outbreaks, Study Says |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Parental doubts about the safety of
childhood vaccinations are leading to outbreaks of largely eradicated
diseases like measles and whooping cough, doctors warned in a new
report. A U.S. measles outbreak last year -- almost exclusively among
unvaccinated people -- has sparked concern about places where many
parents opt out of having their children vaccinated. In Ashland, Ore.,
more than a quarter of kindergartners aren't vaccinated, leading the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hold a town-hall
meeting on vaccination there earlier this year. 'A lot of folks are
counterculture-type independent thinkers [who] do not have faith in all
the modern medicine-type stuff," said Myles Murphy, city editor of the
town's newspaper, the Ashland Daily Tidings. Too many abstainers can put
a town at risk, wrote Dr. Saad Omer, of Emory University in Atlanta, the
lead author in the report in this week's New England Journal of
Medicine..." |
|
|
Say It Ain't So, O |
|
| Slate |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Chastising a celebrity is an
exercise in futility. You feel like a kitten being held by the scruff of
its neck, scrabbling wildly in the air without drawing blood. Pointless
as this may be, though, I will try to talk some sense into Oprah
Winfrey, who has decided to go into business with vaccine skeptic Jenny
McCarthy. There is abundant evidence that vaccines don't cause autism.
More than a dozen studies, as well as trend data from California and
other states, show that neither the mercury-containing preservative
thimerosal nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism. In
March, a federal court dismissed both of these theories in a most
definitive way after hearing weeks of testimony and gathering thousands
of pages of evidence. Jenny McCarthy begs to differ..." |
|
|
Keeping Appointments Key to Keeping Vaccines on Track |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| May 5, 2009 |
|
| "Scheduling issues, communication
problems and a lack of belief in the importance of vaccinations have
been identified as some of the biggest hurdles to getting parents to
bring their children in for immunization appointments, U.S. researchers
report. Missed appointments were linked to children being 2.5 times more
likely to be behind in their immunization requirements, according to
investigators in New York City..." |
|
|
Op-Ed:The Autism/Vaccine Myth: Parents who refuse to have their children
vaccinated are putting them, and other children, at risk |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| May 3, 2009 |
|
| "A mother gently places her beautiful
1-year-old boy on the examining table, unwrapping his soft, blue
blanket. To my opening question, his mother says "No," she has no
concerns. A thorough exam confirms the boy's good health. His heart and
lungs are clear; his growth and development right on target. Even his
crying as we screen his blood for anemia and lead are signs of a normal
child..." |
|
|
|
Health Officials Stress Need for Infant Immunizations |
|
| The York Dispatch (PA) |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "As the swine flu dominates
headlines, health officials gathered in York Monday to remind residents
that even illnesses that had become relatively rare in the U.S. have
resurfaced and pose a risk to the nation's youngest citizens: infants.
The goal: to stress the importance of vaccines for children in
recognition of National Infant Immunization Week..." |
|
|
Letter: Love your children by immunizing them |
|
| Post-Standard (NY) |
|
| April 28, 2009 |
|
| "To the Editor: Immunizations remain
important. Even though parents of young children may not have ever seen
a case of polio or rubella, the recent outbreaks of mumps and measles in
the United States remind us that the diseases we immunize against have
not disappeared. Without up-to-date shots for our children, the risks of
contracting a serious illness are very real. Children should be
immunized against 14 different diseases by the age of 2. It is easy to
do an Internet search and find lots of misinformation on vaccines.
Misinformation linking vaccines to autism has put fear in many parents.
But experts on immunizations who have reviewed all the scientific data
available have found there is no link between vaccines and autism. These
experts include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of
Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention...Many more children benefit from vaccines than
suffer serious side effects. By Cynthia B. Morrow, Onondaga County
commissioner of health" |
|
|
Opinion: Parents, Don't Be Immune to Vaccine Truths By Rahul Parikh, MD |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| April 20, 2009 |
|
| "As a second-year pediatric resident,
I went to India to work in a hospital in Mumbai. There, among the rows
of sick, poor children, were ones dying from vaccine-preventable
diseases. Among them, most starkly, was a 9-year-old boy in the most
severe stage of tetanus -- every muscle in his body was locked in spasm,
the sides of his face pointed upward in a grimaced smile -- "risus
sardonicus," as it's known in pediatric textbooks..." |
|
|
Beware the Herd, Health Officials Say |
|
| Marin Independent Journal (CA) |
|
| April 15, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials say the rising
number of Marin parents who choose not to vaccinate their children
against infectious disease could be putting other children and adults at
risk - a phenomenon known as "herd immunity." Marin has one of the
state's highest rates of personal belief exemptions, parental waivers
that allow children to enroll in kindergarten without receiving
vaccinations against diseases like measles, polio or whooping cough. The
number of exemptions in the county increased to 6.3 percent from 1999 to
2008, while the state's rate of exemption grew to only 1.9 percent
during the same period. Health officials say the growing number of
children who aren't vaccinated could be putting other children at risk
for infection - even those who have been immunized..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Early Warning; Our View: A measles outbreak threatens the
region's immigrant communities |
|
| Baltimore Sun |
|
| April 15, 2009 |
|
| "Measles, long a scourge of childhood
before the development of effective vaccines, has practically
disappeared in the United States. Today, most Americans either were
vaccinated as children or got the disease before they entered school and
are now immune. That's not the case for people who weren't born in this
country, however, many of whom remain vulnerable. That's why health
department officials are taking urgent steps to contain an outbreak of
measles in Montgomery County, where four cases were reported this year.
That may not sound like a lot, but because measles is very contagious,
every precaution must be taken to keep it from spreading through the
area's large immigrant community. Prevention requires identifying and
isolating victims so they can't infect others. Officials have linked
three of the four victims to a traveler from China who brought the
disease back with him; they have yet to determine how the fourth victim,
a Hispanic woman, got infected..." |
|
|
Four Measles Cases Diagnosed in Maryland |
|
| Baltimore Sun |
|
| April 14, 2009 |
|
| "Montgomery County, Md., has
confirmed four cases of measles since February, marking the state's
first outbreak in eight years. A man who caught the disease on an
overseas trip infected a co-worker, who then infected an eight-month-old
baby when seeking hospital treatment. The most recent infection is not
tied to the other three, and health officials--who stress the need for
vaccination--are working to contact people who may have been exposed to
the disease. Foreign-born residents who have not been vaccinated are
especially vulnerable. Fran Phillips, Maryland's deputy secretary for
public health services, says: 'That is really quite a new development.
But it does make sense that we see these cases in Montgomery County,
which has one of the highest percentages of foreign-born residents.'..." |
|
|
National Infant Immunization Week Highlights Importance of Vaccinations;
Recent Outbreaks Show Need for Education of Parents |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| April 13, 2009 |
|
| "The following information was
released by the American Academy of Family Physicians: National Infant
Immunization Week, or NIIW, is scheduled for April 25-May 2, giving
doctors and public health officials an opportunity to emphasize the
importance of protecting children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases.
Immunization expert Paul Offit, M.D. A list of nationwide NIIW events
and various online resources for parents and health professionals is
available from the CDC. "I think it's great to have a time set aside to
recognize the importance of vaccinations, but ... with the recent
outbreak of Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b infection) in Minnesota
and Pennsylvania and in other areas -- as well as measles outbreaks --
it seems like every week is infant immunization week," said Paul Offit,
M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Maurice R.
Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at The Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia..." |
|
|
Letter to the Editor: Immunize Children |
|
| Contra Costa Times (CA) |
|
| April 8, 2009 |
|
| "I read the Times story about parents
choosing not to immunize their children and wanted to make sure readers
know of the local risks. Though your story focused on a measles outbreak
in San Diego, we had a similarly disturbing outbreak of whooping cough
right here in Contra Costa County last year. The Contra Costa Public
Health Department had to temporarily close a private school in El
Sobrante after at least 21 children contracted whooping cough, a highly
infectious and serious lung infection. The outbreak had already spread
to another school and two childcare facilities. Fortunately, all of the
children recovered but the outbreak might have been avoided if the
children had been immunized. Like the events in your story, most of the
children with whooping cough in the Contra Costa outbreak were in
kindergarten, and their parents had decided not to immunize them for
various reasons, including the concern over whether immunizations are
linked to autism. There is simply no scientific link between
immunizations and autism. However, there is ample evidence that parents
who do not immunize their children put their children, the school and
the larger community at risk for serious, sometimes life-threatening,
diseases. Erika Jenssen, MPH Martinez Jenssen is immunization
coordinator of Contra Costa Public Health Department." |
|
|
Immunizing Children Philadelphia Mission |
|
|
Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
|
April 8, 2009 |
|
|
"At each of these addresses, in theory, is a baby who is behind in
childhood immunizations.
Velazco-Miranda's job: Find the parents. Get the kid into a clinic for
shots. With several recent
outbreaks of preventable diseases traced to unvaccinated children,
public health officials say it
is more important than ever to maintain the high immunization rates that
provide an extra layer of
protection for everyone. Philadelphia has among the highest vaccination
rates in the nation, often
topping all other big cities and most states..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Vaccinations Are a Public Health
Success, and a Responsibility |
|
| Bay City Times (MI) |
|
| April 7, 2009 |
|
| "Lined up in school gymnasiums like little soldiers in some states,
millions of U.S. school kids
did their part in a decades-long public health crusade. Many of them
sniffing back tears of fear, a
few crying openly, the vaccinations they received - at school or at a
doctor's office - vanquished
smallpox and polio from the North American continent, and sent measles
packing. Now that those
diseases and others are beaten back, though, some parents are pushing
back against state laws
requiring vaccinations for school children..." |
|
|
Why Do Anti-Vaccinationists Believe? |
|
| Huffington Post |
|
| April 2, 2009 |
|
| "At the end of last week, I wrote an
article which was eventually titled 'Vaccine Denial =
Scientific Illiteracy.' The article was posted on Monday and has since
received a lot of feedback
on either side...More confusion came when I started actually reading
through the comments. I tried
to understand the anti-vaccination thought process. From my point of
view, vaccines are good
things..." |
|
|
Editorial: Vaccine Fear is Harmful for
Children |
|
| Contra Costa Times |
|
| April 1, 2009 |
|
| "A misguided fear that some vaccines may cause autism has persuaded a
growing number of parents to
decline to have their children inoculated against childhood diseases
such as measles, mumps and
whooping cough. These are illnesses that had been eradicated in the
United States years ago after
the implementation of a federal program paying for vaccines for those
who could not afford them.
Unfortunately, unfounded fears that vaccines are more dangerous than the
diseases they prevent have
led to an increasing number of children who are not vaccinated before
they enter school..." |
|
|
Concern over Vaccination Rate in N.J.; Responding to a reported drop, a
doctors' group says parents and government must do more |
|
|
The Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
|
March 30, 2009 |
|
|
"Both parents and government must do more to ensure timely
vaccination of children, a New Jersey doctors' group says, pointing to a
new national survey that suggests the state may have dropped from the
top 10 in the country to the bottom 10 in less than a year. "We live in
the most urban state in the nation," Robert Morgan, a pediatrician and
member of the Medical Society of New Jersey, said in an interview. "When
you choose not to vaccinate your child, you are making choices for every
other child as well." It is not clear that the latest National
Immunization Survey results in New Jersey accurately reflect actual
vaccination rates. The survey, conducted from July 2007 through June
2008, found that 70.5 percent of children in New Jersey had received the
standard series of vaccines - down from 80.5 percent during the
January-to-December 2007 period..." |
|
|
Immunization Laws and Attitudes Vary |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| March 29, 2009 |
|
| "States have long been able to require students to be vaccinated before
entering school, a power
upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1922. But how strictly immunization
laws are enforced varies,
with tougher requirements leading to higher rates of compliance. A study
published in the Journal
of the American Medical Assn. in 2006 found that states that made it
easiest to opt out of mandated
vaccinations were nearly twice as likely to have cases of whooping cough
as states with more
difficult procedures. The authors, who noted that California was among
the most lenient, urged all
states to "balance parental autonomy with the tremendous public health
benefit of vaccines" and
consider tougher standards for exemptions..." |
|
|
Measles Case Led to Concern, Quarantines |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| March 29, 2009 |
|
| "Once vaccination rates dip below a
certain point, outbreaks of childhood diseases can spread quickly. Last
year, Hilary Chambers, a San Diego radio host and mother of a baby girl,
saw firsthand how fast measles can be passed among children. A
7-year-old boy brought back a case of the disease from Switzerland and
infected his two siblings and nine other children at his public charter
school and doctors' office. One of those children, a 10-month-old boy
too young to be vaccinated, went to day care with Chambers' daughter
Finlee. Public health officials informed Chambers that her daughter was
at risk for contracting measles. Finlee had just turned 12 months old,
meaning she was eligible for her first measles shot, but that
inoculation appointment hadn't yet been scheduled. Chambers was told
that she needed to keep Finlee quarantined at home, 24 hours a day, for
three weeks. "So I totally freaked out," Chambers said. "The child at
our day care that contracted measles was hospitalized with a 106-degree
fever." Finlee was one of about 70 children who were quarantined in the
case..." |
|
|
California Schools' Risks Rise as Vaccinations Drop |
|
|
Los Angeles Times |
|
|
March 29, 2009 |
|
|
"Parents fear shots more than measles or mumps. A rising number of
California parents are choosing to send their children to kindergarten
without routine vaccinations, putting hundreds of elementary schools in
the state at risk for outbreaks of childhood diseases eradicated in the
U.S. years ago. Exemptions from vaccines -- which allow children to
enroll in public and private schools without state-mandated shots --
have more than doubled since 1997, according to a Times analysis of
state data obtained last week. The rise in unvaccinated children appears
to be driven by affluent parents choosing not to immunize. Many do so
because they fear the shots could trigger autism, a concern widely
discredited in medical research. But with autism rates rising, some
parents find that fear more worrisome than the chance that their child
could contract diseases that, while now very rare in this country, can
still be deadly..." |
|
|
Sonoma County at Center of Anti-vaccine
Debate |
|
| Santa Rose Press Democrat (CA) |
|
| March 28, 2009 |
|
| "Whether it's a decision of the well-informed, non-traditional,
alternative or paranoid,
vaccinations are not considered a must-do by many North Bay parents.
Long gone are the days when
vaccinating infants and toddlers prior to kindergarten is done as a matter of course and without
question. Especially in western Sonoma County. A study conducted by the
Los Angeles Times reveals
that the North Bay, and Sonoma County in particular, is a hot bed of
anti-vaccine sentiment..." |
|
|
Health Dept. Prepares for Immunization Week |
|
| Moultrie Observer (GA) |
|
| March 28, 2009 |
|
| "During the 1950s, nearly every child
developed measles, an easily spread virus known for causing a rash,
fever, cough and watery eyes — and feared because it can also cause
pneumonia, seizures, brain damage or death. Today, thanks to childhood
immunizations, the disease is extremely rare in the United States..." |
|
|
Vaccine Scare Threatens Health in Ukraine |
|
|
Associated Press |
|
|
March 25, 2009 |
|
|
"A widespread scare about vaccine side effects in Ukraine has led to
a sharp drop in immunizations that could result in disease outbreaks
spreading beyond the former Soviet republic, international and local
health officials say. Hundreds of thousands of fearful Ukrainians have
refused vaccines for diseases such as diphtheria, mumps, polio,
hepatitis B, tuberculosis, whooping cough and others this year,
according to official estimates. Authorities have canceled a U.N.-backed
measles and rubella vaccination campaign funded by U.S. philanthropist
Ted Turner, and will have to collect and incinerate nearly 9 million
unused doses in coming months..." |
|
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Vaccine Delays in Poorer Nations Raise Health Risks for Infants |
|
|
New York Times |
|
|
March 24, 2009 |
|
|
"Many infants in poor and middle-income countries get their vaccines
weeks later than doctors recommend and therefore face increased risks of
sickness and death, according to a new study in The Lancet. Researchers
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine studied health
surveys from 45 countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America. Globally,
vaccination rates have risen sharply over the last 20 years, and child
mortality has dropped below 10 million a year for the first time, thanks
largely to measles shots, according to the United Nations Children’s
Fund..." |
|
|
This Scientist's Passion: Ending the scourge of parasitic diseases |
|
|
USA TODAY |
|
| March 23, 2009 |
|
|
"Even as a child, Peter Hotez held a grown-up's fascination for the
tiny creatures living in the creek near his house. Inspired by Paul de
Kruif's Microbe Hunters, a popular book on disease detectives, Hotez
persuaded his parents to buy him a microscope. He spent hours watching
little animals wriggle in a glowing circle of light, and, at an age when
most kids were reading The Hardy Boys, he read about parasites. His two
brothers were baffled by his obsession..." |
|
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A Dangerous European Export |
|
| The American |
|
|
March 19, 2009 |
|
| "Several European nations are turning
away from vaccination and are now spreading disease. Steadily weakening
vaccination coverage in Britain and four other countries is undermining
efforts to eradicate measles across Europe and increasing the threat to
the United States. An unfounded fear that the measles, mumps, and
rubella (MMR) vaccine is causing autism is making rising numbers of
people sick..." |
|
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Viewpoint: The Natural Benefits of Vaccines |
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BBC News |
|
|
March 18, 2009 |
|
|
"One of the arguments given by those who feel uncomfortable about
giving children vaccinations is that they are 'unnatural'. But in this
week's Scrubbing Up health column, vaccine expert Professor Adam Finn
argues that they are in fact a very natural idea..." |
|
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Dr. Dustin Ballard: Don't blame autism on shots |
|
|
Marin Independent Journal (CA) |
|
|
March 15, 2009 |
|
|
"Did you know that the more ice cream you eat, the thinner you are?
It's surprising, but true. If you track the average person's weight over
the course of a year, you'll find that they are lighter when they eat
more ice cream and heavier when they eat less. Before you rush out to
stock up on pints of Cold Stone Creamery and shares of Ben & Jerry's, I
should mention that people eat more ice cream in the summer. They are
also more active and have higher metabolic rates in warmer weather. So,
perhaps it's not the ice cream that leads to weight loss but rather
seasonal variation in calorie burning. What's the lesson here? That
causality can be elusive..." |
|
|
Conference Takes on Autism, Vaccines; But Unlike Many such Gatherings,
Support for Vaccinating Is Strong Florida Times-Union |
|
|
March 12, 2009 |
|
|
"A bill before Florida lawmakers that would relax the state's
childhood vaccination mandate may make more children vulnerable to the
measles, chicken pox and other potentially life-threatening diseases,
disease experts warned Wednesday. The bill would allow parents to object
to having their children immunized on 'philosophical' grounds, opening a
door to parents worried about the controversial link between vaccines
and autism. Many already bypass the state's vaccine mandate, using
existing medical and religious waivers to do so, observers say. Paul
Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia and an outspoken vaccine proponent, told a medical group in
Jacksonville that the 21 states with philosophical exemptions are seeing
higher rates of measles..." |
|
|
Opinion: Lazy or misguided few are gambling with young lives |
|
| Daily Telegraph (AUS) |
|
| March 12, 2009 |
|
| "Mumps, measles, rubella, whooping
cough, diphtheria. They are not just a few spots, a nasty cough, a few
days rest in bed. They can kill and do kill. And yet still there is a
small but significant number of parents, motivated by misguided fears or
worse still laziness and self-interest, that are choosing not to
vaccinate their children. That may be their right but they also have the
obligation to acknowledge that they are putting children and babies at
greater risk of catching serious and at times deadly diseases..." |
|
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The Deadly Danger of Dismissing Immunisation Shots |
|
| The Daily Telegraph (AUS) |
|
| March 12, 2009 |
|
| "Ancient diseases wiped out by
vaccines are festering in pockets across the state where parents
continue to refuse to vaccinate their children. Health experts last
night warned of the return of potentially deadly illnesses, as a
whooping cough epidemic already sweeps across NSW..." |
|
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What Does the Doctor Talk to Your Teenager About? |
|
| Seattle Post Intelligencer |
|
| March 9, 2009 |
|
| "If you're the parent of a 'tween or
teen, chances are you've been asked to leave the room during your
child's visit to the doctor so they can have a private chat. Now of
course I believe that teenagers should have a trusting relationship with
their doctors. But while I'm sitting there alone in the waiting room,
watching the younger mommies bounce babies on their knees, I can't help
but wonder what my kids are telling the doctor behind that closed
door..." |
|
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Op-ed What vaccine dilemma? |
|
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
|
| March 8, 2009 |
|
| "The vaccine-autism controversy
continues, as reflected in last Sunday's front-page article in the
Post-Gazette bearing the unfortunate title, "The Vaccine Dilemma." There
is no vaccine dilemma. It's true that the number of cases of autism in
the United States is on the rise, with the diagnosis applied in 2007 to
1 of every 150 children. Significant reasons appear to be improved
detection, increased awareness and a broader definition of what
constitutes autism. While these explanations may not account for the
entire increase in cases, science has firmly established the role that
vaccines and vaccine preservatives play: NONE! There is NO LINK between
vaccines and autism. It is essential that people understand how
epidemiologists detect the causes of disease..." |
|
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Contagious Disease's Spread Highlights Dilemma over Unvaccinated Kids |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| February 23, 2009 |
|
| "Parents who opt out of or delay
getting their children immunized may run a higher risk of them catching
and passing along diseases that once were nearly eradicated. An old
childhood disease reared its head in Minnesota last year, infecting five
young children and killing one of them, according to a recent report by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Measles, like Hib, has
been virtually eradicated from the U.S. thanks to vaccination..." |
|
Op-ed: Why the Obama
Administration Needs to Restore Public Faith in the Safety of Childhood
Vaccines |
|
Dr. Louis Z. Cooper, Heidi Larson and Dr. Samuel L. Katz | Newsweek Web
Exclusive
Newsweek |
|
February 21, 2009
From the magazine issue dated March 2, 2009 |
|
| "The mainstream media applauded the U.S. federal "vaccine
court's"
decision Feb. 12 that the MMR
vaccine and vaccines containing ethyl mercury as a preservative did not
cause autism in three
children chosen as test cases. But that's not enough to repair the
damage already done to the U.S.
vaccine program. It's hard for a single court decision to compete with
ongoing allegations from
grieving parents and celebrities that vaccines created an epidemic of
autism. Those allegations
have generated confusion and fear in the minds of many young parents,
reduced public trust in the
remarkable benefits and safety of U.S. immunization programs and put
both vaccinated and
unvaccinated children at increased risk from preventable diseases..." |
|
Risks of Not Vaccinating Children
Watch video |
|
| NBC Nightly News |
|
| February 17, 2009 |
|
| Transcript excerpt: "BRIAN WILLIAMS,
anchor: Perhaps you have seen the reports of the measles and whooping
cough and meningitis outbreaks, so far limited, in different parts of
the country. Health officials say that is due in part to some parents
choosing not to have their children vaccinated. And experts warn that
decision, often emotionally driven, puts children at risk. Our report on
this tonight from our chief science correspondent Robert Bazell. ROBERT
BAZELL reporting: Two years ago, Matt Lasik, now five, contracted
meningitis, a severe brain infection. KELLY: And the doctor looked at me
and he said, 'Your son is going to die. He doesn't have much time.'
BAZELL: Matt's mom, Kelly, soon learned her son had a bacterial
infection called Hib, an illness usually prevented by routine
immunization..." |
|
|
Don't Risk Going Unvaccinated |
|
| Huffington Post |
|
| January 22, 2009 |
|
| "This past year the United States
witnessed a measles epidemic that was the largest in more than a decade.
About 135 people, mostly children, were infected with measles; some of
those children were hospitalized with severe dehydration and others with
pneumonia caused by the virus. Why did this happen? The answer can be
found in a study published in December 2008 in the American Journal of
Epidemiology that received little attention from the media. The authors,
epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
examined school children in Michigan whose parents had chosen not to
vaccinate them. They compared clusters of unvaccinated children with
clusters of documented whooping cough (pertussis) outbreaks. Not
surprisingly, the clusters overlapped. The authors concluded:
"Geographic pockets of vaccine exemptors pose a risk to the whole
community..." |
|
|
Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade |
|
| New York Times |
|
| January 13, 2009 |
|
| "A new book defending vaccines,
written by a doctor infuriated at the claim that they cause autism, is
galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United
States. But there will be no book tour for the doctor, Paul A. Offit,
author of "Autism's False Prophets." He has had too many death
threats..." |
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Speaking the Language of Vaccines |
|
| American Medical News |
|
| December 15, 2008 |
|
| "Childhood vaccines are entangled in
a vast public controversy, and doctors often find themselves helping
perplexed parents sort through misinformation before making a decision
on immunization. Mindful of these discussions, a panel of physicians and
journalists offered pointers to those on the front lines during the
joint meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Panelist
Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the
Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, believes one way to address
parents' fears is for physicians to sharpen their message and stop using
the scientific language of the many reports that have found no link
between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Childhood Vaccinations Prevent Millions of Deaths |
|
| The Star Press (IN) |
|
| November 9, 2008 |
|
| "Actress Jenny McCarthy, the
parent of an autistic child, believes that infants are dangerously
receiving too many vaccinations too quickly and that immunizations cause
autism. She uses her fame to bring these convictions to the forefront of
public attention. Her crusade, although well-intentioned, is misguided
and not based on sound scientific evidence. When questioned, she
admitted that her conclusions were based mostly on anecdotal
information. This very lack of scientific rigor among anti-vaccine
activists confounds the ongoing debate regarding the
childhood-immunization safety. At least 16 well-designed scientific
studies have found no connection between immunizations or thimerosol (a
mercury-based preservative in some vaccines) and autism. These studies
were conducted by multiple independent investigators and involved large
numbers of children...Vaccine-preventable diseases smolder along waiting
for a chance to re-emerge as a result of under-immunization..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Dangerous Kook At The EPA? |
|
Author: Walter Olson, a senior fellow
at the Manhattan Institute
Forbes |
|
| November 7, 2008 |
|
| "Obama is considering Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. Yikes! You may remember the furor that played out over the
past few years regarding the so-called Republican 'war on science.' In
campaign literature, Barack Obama pledged to break with his predecessor
and not run an administration in which 'ideology trumps scientific
inquiry and politics replaces expert opinion'..." |
|
| Vaccinations’ Benefits Proved; Enforce the Law |
|
| The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| October 29, 2008 |
|
| "Unfounded fears about vaccines are causing too many parents to forgo getting the shots their children need to stay healthy and not spread dangerous diseases among their playmates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that measles cases in the United States had reached the highest level in more than a decade, an alarming rise in a disease thought to be eliminated in the United States eight years ago. The spike is directly linked to parents refusing to get their children inoculated against the easily spread disease..." |
|
| Stomping Through A Medical Minefield |
|
| Newsweek |
|
| October 25, 2008 |
|
| "Paul Offit—salt-and-pepper hair, wire-rimmed glasses, Phillies fan—hardly seems like the kind of guy who'd receive a death threat. He's a father who likes to hang out with his teenage kids, a doctor who wears khakis until they're frayed. But Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the nation's most outspoken advocate for childhood immunizations, is at the center of a white-hot medical controversy. He believes passionately in the safety of vaccines; his enemies, many of them parents who blame these shots for their children's autism, do not.He believes passionately in the safety of vaccines; his enemies, many of them parents who blame these shots for their children's autism, do not. In his new book, 'Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure,' Offit takes on his critics full-force, challenging them to prove the science wrong..." |
|
| Op-ed: Edging Away from Lifesaving Vaccines |
|
| The Oregonian |
|
| October 21, 2008 |
|
| "No single medical advance has had a greater positive impact on human health than vaccines. Largely because of vaccines, deadly or disfiguring diseases such as diptheria, rubella, pertussis, polio and other diseases have been completely or virtually eliminated from the United States. Vaccines also stand as the best chance to prevent pandemic influenza and AIDS, and to prevent certain common cancers..." |
|
| Op-ed: Forgoing Vaccines Has a Social Cost |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| October 20, 2008 |
|
| "I love vaccines. The other day, at my 4-year-old son's annual check-up, a physician's assistant asked me whether I had any questions before she shot him up with a half-dozen varieties, including polio, mumps-measles-rubella and flu, and I said, 'Heck no, bring them on!' I have long known that vaccines are considered among the greatest advances of modern medicine. But it was last winter's flu epidemic that turned me into a fervid vaccine fan. In a flukish cluster of tragedy, I happened to know the families of two otherwise healthy children who died of complications of influenza..." |
|
| Campaign Promotes Childhood Vaccinations |
|
| Telluride Watch (CO) |
|
| October 7, 2008 |
|
| "Telluride’s kids have every opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle, with ready access to organic produce, fresh mountain air and an abundance of outdoor activities. According to data collected from the Colorado Immunization Reporting System, only 31 percent of the area’s children between the ages of 15-36 months receive vaccinations on the recommended schedule. Through a Vaccine Awareness Campaign, a series of newspaper ads and a community lecture will be aimed at convincing more parents of the benefits of timely immunizations..." |
|
| Ask a Doctor: Vaccines are safe, necessary |
|
| Wausau Daily Herald (WI) |
|
| October 6, 2008 |
|
| "Question: Are all childhood immunizations really necessary? Answer: Yes, they are. Childhood immunizations are the SANER approach to disease prevention -- Safe, Available, Necessary, Effective and Responsible. We know that today's vaccines are quite safe. Reactions are few and mild compared to the frequency and severity of the diseases they prevent...Vaccination is a part of being a responsible parent and a responsible citizen...Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children can get away with this only because other parents did have their children vaccinated. Time and again, vaccines have been proven safe and far preferable to the alternative: Epidemics of diseases that can cause long-term complications and even death. Vaccination schedules ensure that the vaccines are given safely and given soon enough to provide the best protection..." |
|
| Blog: To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? |
|
| Consumer Reports Blog |
|
| September 23, 2008 |
|
| "For parents looking for information on vaccines, the Web can be a confusing place. Misinformation abounds about a purported link between childhood vaccines and autism, and anti-vaccination Web sites have been on the rise in recent years. Naturally, that can cause parents anguish about when and whether to vaccinate their children. But the science is clear; there is no concrete evidence of a link between vaccinations and autism. Meanwhile, largely because of the movement by a determined minority against vaccination, long eradicated diseases are gaining a new foothold, making vaccination as important as ever..." |
|
| Public Needs to Know Vaccines Are Safe, Docs Say |
|
| Associated Press |
|
| September 18, 2008 |
|
| "A new coalition of 22 major medical groups says public confidence in vaccine safety needs to be restored to avoid risks for deadly disease outbreaks. Thursday's message comes from the Chicago-based American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and 20 more of the nation's most influential health-related groups. Their concern stems from recent measles outbreaks in several U.S. cities. Last month, health officials said 131 children had gotten the measles so far this year — the highest number in more than a decade. Nearly half of the cases involved children whose parents rejected vaccination and many of the cases were traced to outbreaks overseas...The alliance said public health officials need to counteract campaigns by advocacy groups who believe vaccines can cause autism, despite scientific evidence to the contrary...The alliance suggests several ways to boost confidence in vaccines, including urging the government to create a public information campaign, and calling for more vaccine research..." |
|
| Op-ed: One More Reason to Vaccinate Children |
|
| Grand Rapids Press (MI) |
|
| September 15, 2008 |
|
| "Childhood vaccines safely prevent life-threatening diseases and are well worth the slight statistical risk that they may cause health problems. A new study offers additional evidence of the safety of childhood vaccinations -- and further reason for parents to have their kids immunized against potentially fatal, and now resurgent, diseases... the National Academy of Sciences, the CDC and the World Health Organization, all respected agencies, have consistently found no credible scientific evidence showing that immunizations cause autism. This study says the same. Parents who don't immunize their children put at risk not only their own youngsters, but the kids around them. This study will not be the final word on the simmering autism-vaccine debate. But it should offer added comfort to parents who have lingering questions about vaccinations. The MMR and other shots continue to represent some of the most effective and sweeping advances in preventive medicine. There is every reason to make sure kids have that protection..." |
|
| Child Vaccination Rates Hit Record Levels |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 5, 2008 |
|
| "U.S. toddlers got the recommended vaccinations against childhood diseases at record levels in 2007, federal health officials said on Thursday, as they urged parents to continue to trust vaccine safety. Public health officials have expressed concern in recent years that some parents fearful about vaccine safety were declining to get their children vaccinated, making them more apt to catch and spread preventable diseases. 'We really recognize that ultimately our program is dependent on trust -- trust of moms and dads, trust of caretakers and trust of the clinicians, pediatricians (and) family practice professionals who take care of our children,' Gerberding told reporters in a conference call..." |
|
| The Risks of Skipping Kids' Vaccines |
|
| MSN Health & Fitness |
|
| September 2008 |
|
| "Before the days of vaccinations and antibiotics, early childhood used to be an especially risky time. Today, as many deadly or permanently debilitating diseases slip into the realm of forgotten history, many parents seem more concerned about the potential dangers of vaccinations than about the diseases themselves. In previous decades, the biggest concern was vaccination-related mercury exposure from the preservative thimerosal, which has since been removed from the pediatric version of most vaccinations..." |
|
| Vaccines Seek to Offer Cradle-to-Grave Protection |
|
| Forbes (NY) |
|
| August 28, 2008 |
|
| "Immunization shots used to be the realm of the young. Babies would go through series after series of vaccinations. And toddlers would take their shots before entering preschool. And they still do. But vaccines are now expanding to include all age ranges, in an attempt to ward off disease from the cradle to the grave. What's more, immunization rates continue to gradually improve in the United States, although not as quickly as public health officials would like..." |
|
| Op-ed: The Unprotected among Us |
|
| Scripps News Service |
|
| August 27, 2008 |
|
| "The development of increasingly effective vaccines is one of medicine's great triumphs. Thanks to large-scaled vaccination programs, the World Health Organization has wiped out smallpox and is close to doing the same to polio..." |
|
| Calling the Shots |
|
| Cookie Magazine |
|
| August 1, 2008 |
|
| "As a rite of passage, vaccinations can always be counted on to elicit howls of protest from the kids whose chubby thighs, bottoms, and other body parts are offered up as injection sites. But nowadays those shrieks are just as likely to be coming from parents..." |
|
| Amanda Peet Interview |
|
| Cookie Magazine |
|
| August 1, 2008 |
|
| "The X Files: I Want to Believe star and mother of an 18-month-old speaks candidly about her daughter and the controversy surrounding vaccines..." |
|
| As Diseases Make Comeback, Why Aren't All Kids Vaccinated? |
|
| Popular Mechanics |
|
| August 1, 2008 |
|
| "The measles, whooping cough and even polio have returned. Why? Because of a new breed of vaccine deniers who are ignoring campaigns for awareness, and ultimately might live shorter—not longer—lives..." |
|
| X-Files Actress on Vaccines: Ignore the Stars |
|
| ABC News |
|
| August 1, 2008 |
|
| "Actress Amanda Peet is not the first celebrity to speak out on childhood vaccination. But her message is clearly different from that of many other stars on the subject..." |
|
| Op-ed: Ouch! That’s painful ... but it’s for your own good |
|
| North Kitsap Herald (WA) |
|
| July 23, 2008 |
|
| "Nobody likes needles, that much is fact. Whether you’re on the health care side administering a vaccination shot or on the patient side receiving it, the experience isn’t one you mark on your calendar and anticipate eagerly..." |
|
| It's Time For Back To School Vaccinations |
|
| Fayette Front Page (GA) |
|
| July 21, 2008 |
|
| "It's that time of the year again when parents nationwide are making sure their children have everything they need to head back to school. At the top of your list should be checking that your child is up to date on all of the required immunizations..." |
|
| Doc Hasn't Stopped Helping |
|
| News & Observer (NC) |
|
| June 20, 2008 |
|
| "Dr. Sam Katz has long enjoyed an international profile for developing the measles vaccine, helping to save millions of children's lives since its approval in 1963..." |
|
| Problems -- and Solutions |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 9, 2008 |
|
| "Melinda French Gates is co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the wife of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Together, they head the world's largest charitable foundation, tackling such problems as public-health issues in Africa, India and elsewhere and the U.S. public-school system. She talked with Walt Mossberg about the challenges of bringing vaccines to poor children in Africa and how involved she and Mr. Gates are in the day-to-day running of the foundation. Here are edited excerpts of that discussion..." |
|
| Vaccines: We're All in This Together |
|
| Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel |
|
| May 3, 2008 |
|
| "In 2006, a mumps outbreak sickened more than 2,500 in 11 Midwestern states, with more than two dozen hospitalizations and at least 15 cases of meningitis or encephalitis (serious brain inflammation), four of which resulted in deafness. In 2004, a pertussis (whooping cough) epidemic sickened more than 5,000 in Wisconsin and killed two, including an infant. The 1989-1990 measles outbreak in Wisconsin sickened more than 1,600 people, caused more than 200 hospitalizations and killed six - including three unimmunized young children in Milwaukee..." |
|
| Op-ed: We Must Vaccinate Kids |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| April 29, 2008 |
|
| "Vaccines protect us all. We can't allow the fears of a few parents to endanger society..." |
|
| Op-ed: Vaccine Study |
|
| Winston Salem Journal (NC) |
|
| April 21, 2008 |
|
| "Federal health officials have wisely decided to include the public in its study of safety questions related to vaccines. A federal study group is charged with finding the most important safety questions for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research over the next five years, The Associated Press reports. The group was told to listen to the public..." |
|
| Op-ed: Foul Shots |
|
| New York Post |
|
| April 20, 2008 |
|
| "In 1957, a remarkable man named Maurice Hilleman, a J.C. Penney salesman turned microbiologist, predicted and prevented a pandemic strain of the Asian flu..." |
|
| Op-ed: Wisconsin Takes a Step Back in Time |
|
| Daily Cardinal (WI) |
|
| April 17, 2008 |
|
| "Last week was bad for infectious diseases in Wisconsin. Measles and mumps, diseases seemingly reduced to only a memory in the United States by the introduction of vaccines, suddenly began making headlines once again..." |
|
| Op-ed: Immunization Gaps |
|
| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
|
| April 16, 2008 |
|
| "Public health officials in Milwaukee and surrounding communities have stepped up quickly and aggressively to control the current measles outbreak with the tried-and-true combination of public education and vaccinations. But many people aren't heeding the warnings or, in some cases, are deliberately closing their ears to the message as part of the troubling anti-vaccination movement in the United States..." |
|
| Avoiding Vaccines Imperils Kids, Doctor Says |
|
| Omaha World-Herald |
|
| April 12, 2008 |
|
| "The effectiveness of required vaccinations against certain diseases has made some Americans complacent about the need for those shots, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said Friday in Omaha. It has been so long since an outbreak of measles, polio and other diseases that some don't recognize the threat, Dr. Renee Jenkins said in an interview. Jenkins said the vaccines are tested, safe and necessary..." |
|
| Immunization Roulette |
|
| Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN) |
|
| March 25, 2008 |
|
| "A 7-year-old boy traveled to Switzerland with his family early this year and returned to his San Diego home Jan. 13. He developed a fever and sore throat about a week later but went to school. When his condition worsened, he was taken to the family doctor’s office. By Feb. 1, the boy – who was not vaccinated – was diagnosed with measles. He infected five children at his school and four more at the pediatrician’s office..." |
|
| Op-ed: Keep Vaccinating |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| March 12, 2008 |
|
| "Despite many studies discrediting its views, a vocal group of parents and lobbyists insists that vaccines cause autism, a disorder characterized by impaired social, emotional and communications skills. Those making the argument present heart-wrenching stories before courts and the media in the hope that someone, somewhere, will believe their theories and use them to cure their children. A recent case seems to have added fuel to their fire, but it should not dissuade parents from giving their children life-saving vaccines..." |
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