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.
vaccination
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.
A New York state court judge's ruling, revoking New York City's mandatory flu vaccination for pre-school and young school children, is a counterproductive public health move. Hopefully the state legislature can revise the law to allow the city to require such vaccinations, to protect its youngest kids.
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is one of those vaccine-preventable diseases that have been on the rise, as we pointed out here. That's because of waning immunity and low rates of revaccination, as well as fears of some parents.
As more children and teens become susceptible to whooping cough (pertussis), it becomes more important to protect newborns and infants from contagion transmitted by those age groups. With siblings now transmitting the virus more often than moms, pregnant women need to be vaccinated to insure protection.