Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is more than a bad cold. Seasonal outbreaks cause not only tremendous misery but huge numbers of hospital admissions and fatalities. Although the "holy grail" – a universal flu vaccine that recognizes all strains, including newly-arising ones – is not yet available, this does not mean that you should not get the seasonal vaccine. You should, and soon.
vaccination
Some parents are reluctant vaccinators. That's because of the sheer number of immunizations recommended for their infant in the first year of life. Anti-vaxxers have broadened that argument, suggesting and that there's no scientific basis for the schedules. Now, it's more complicated than their alarmist memes, but why let facts get in the way of a viral meme, right? Spoiler alert: the anti-vaxxers are wrong.
Since our founding in 1978, ACSH has stood for evidence-based science and health in combination with free markets and individual liberty. We feel that an educated public should be free to make its own decisions without a "nanny state" micromanaging our behavior. Occasionally, however, our guiding principles encounter intractable problems. Today, two of the biggest such problems involve public health.
Some science positions are so well-supported by data that every literate adult should embrace them. For those who reject facts, an appeal to emotion with funny pictures and clever text can sometimes work to persuade. So, let's celebrate some of our favorite pro-vaccine memes.
In the science wars, some positions are so well-supported by mountains of data ("vaccines are safe and effective"), that every literate adult should embrace them. Alas, they do not. For people who reject facts, an appeal to emotion might work. Hence, the meme. It's simply a matter of reality that memes with funny pictures and clever text go viral, while the latest research paper from the Journal of the American Medical Association does not. So, let's celebrate pro-vaccine memes.
The fact that Ethan Lindenberger is over 18 years of age cannot be glossed over here. When dealing with minors -- which this teen by legal definition is not -- the terrain can get murky.
Hearts don’t open and minds don’t change when you yell at people. Or berate them. Or chastise them. Not with vaccination, or any other medical intervention.
Mosquitoes transmit a wide variety of nasty microbes, from viruses like dengue, yellow fever and Zika, to parasites like malaria. The sheer number and diversity of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes makes vaccine development a challenge. But what if a vaccine could, instead, target the mosquito?
How can we get more parents to vaccinate their kids? New correspondence in The Lancet may bring us one step closer to an answer, using its analysis of the human papillomavirus vaccination program that began in Ireland in 2010.
Despite the reality of measles, rotavirus, and a plethora of other infectious diseases, there's yet another anti-vaccine movement afoot in California. And its aim is to turn the clock back to the 10th Century.
This article, written by Dr. Alex Berezow, was cited by New York Daily News. Obviously, measles outbreaks are garnering a lot of national attention. People seem to have forgotten that, at one time, measles killed thousands of Americans every single year. To this day, measles kills more than 100,000 people around the world annually. But without a doubt, health officials –- especially those who trek to remote and sometimes dangerous locations to administer vaccines – are true public servants.
In spite of anti-vaccine efforts to scare parents, recent CDC data indicates that the overwhelming majority of children entering kindergarten are being appropriately immunized. Using data from 48 states and the District of Columbia, researchers found that a median of over 90 percent of kids are receiving the recommended vaccines.
In infants, whooping cough is horrific. They are especially vulnerable during their first few months, before they can receive their first vaccinations. A new study strengthens the CDC's recommendation: expectant mothers should get the whooping cough vaccine in their third trimester, to transfer protective antibodies to their newborns.