Opinion: Think measles is no big deal? Talk to my patient J.

Nov 19 2019

It is one of the most effective ways to protect our health: herd immunity. By vaccinating the vast majority of people in a population, we can guard against the spread of potentially deadly infections. When we allow this collective immunity to dissipate, the results can be devastating — sometimes even for people who have been vaccinated. Just ask my patient J. J.’s ordeal began with a routine dinner at an Italian restaurant in Culver City in October. A few days later, his wife called me with the news of a possible measles case at the restaurant the same day. I wasn’t worried because J. had attended Los Angeles public schools, which require vaccinations, and a key vaccine such as MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) would not have slipped through the cracks.

Source: LA Times

Vaccine Preventable Diseases Are Rising, How People Are Fighting Back

Last month, the United States came shockingly close to losing its measles elimination status, an achievement the country reached in 2000 after a widely successful vaccination program. With 1,249 casesTrusted Source this year, this is the most number of measles cases since 1992. But measles isn’t the only vaccine preventable disease (VPD) being fueled by the anti-vaccination movement. Other diseases including whooping cough have also become more common.

Source: Healthline

Samoa declares state of emergency over deadly measles epidemic

Nov 17 2019

Samoa has closed all schools and cracked down on public gatherings as it enters a state of emergency over the deadly measles outbreak spreading across the Pacific islands. The island state of just 200,000, halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, announced the state of emergency on Saturday after declaring a measles epidemic late in October, when the first deaths were reported. Since then, at least six deaths, mostly infants under the age of two, have been linked to the outbreak, the health ministry said in a statement late last week. Of the 716 suspected cases of measles, 40% required hospitalisation.

Source: The Guardian

Samoa makes measles vaccine mandatory to stop deadly outbreak

Nov 17 2019

Samoa was finalising plans for a compulsory measles vaccination programme on Monday, after declaring a state of emergency amid an epidemic of the deadly infection that is sweeping the Pacific nation. At least six fatalities, including five children, have been linked to the outbreak, which has also hit other island states such as Tonga and Fiji. Samoa has reported more than 700 cases across all areas of the country, prompting the government on Friday to invoke emergency powers.

Source: Aljazeera

Majority of anti-vaxx ads on Facebook are funded by just two organizations

Nov 14 2019

The majority of Facebook ads spreading misinformation about vaccines are funded by two organizations run by well-known anti-vaccination activists, a new study in the journal Vaccine has found. The World Mercury Project chaired by Robert F Kennedy Jr, and Stop Mandatory Vaccinations, a project of campaigner Larry Cook, bought 54% of the anti-vaccine ads shown on the platform during the study period. “Absolutely we were surprised,” said David Broniatowski, a professor of engineering at George Washington University, one of the authors of the report. “These two individuals were generating the majority of the content.”

Source: The Guardian

Colorado researchers find lower vaccination rates among pediatric transplant patients

Nov 13 2019

University of Colorado researchers have found lower vaccination rates among children who receive liver transplants, increasing the risk of sickness for those children, who already face significant health issues. The findings are discussed in a "Research Letter" included in the November 12 issue of JAMA and also call attention to data that CU School of Medicine faculty members published earlier this year in JAMA Pediatrics.

Source: News Medical

Flu shot can provide effective immunity for people living with HIV

People who are being treated for HIV can gain effective protection against seasonal flu with the influenza (flu) vaccine, new findings confirm. Since people living with HIV can have an impaired immune system and may be at higher risk of serious illness from flu, they are recommended to get the seasonal influenza vaccine every year. However, prior to the new study it was unclear how well the vaccine protected people with HIV taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) – the gold standard treatment which reduces the virus to undetectable levels.

Source: Medical Xpress

The Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition is Changing!

After nearly 30 years focused on protecting Colorado’s children from the dangers of vaccine-preventable diseases, the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition (CCIC) is changing our name and expanding our mission to strengthen and solidify our commitment to protecting Coloradans of all ages, not just children and adolescents, from vaccine-preventable diseases! Vaccines have demonstrated unparalleled success in saving lives—especially those of children—and CCIC is proud to have worked for many years to advance children’s health through immunizations; we are excited to continue this work and promote health for all Colorado children.

Source: Team Vaccine

What to know about hepatitis A outbreaks in the US

Nov 06 2019

Fears of hepatitis A swirled in Somerville, New Jersey, this week, after the health department there reported that a food handler in a local grocery store could have exposed shoppers to the infectious disease. New Jersey's current hepatitis A outbreak, which began in 2018, has swelled to 504 cases as of early November. It's also part of an ongoing nationwide outbreak of the infectious disease, which began in 2016 and has led to 27,634 infections and 16,679 hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: ABC News

States hound parents about kids’ hearing tests. Why not about vaccines?

When our newest daughter was born at home this summer, my midwife provided us with the names of numerous audiologists in the area to conduct a newborn hearing screening. At several prenatal appointments, she warned that we should get the test done quickly because if we didn’t, the state of Maryland would “stalk” us. Boy, was she right. As instructed, we had our daughter’s hearing checked within her first month of life. But for some reason, the results didn’t make it back to the state or our pediatrician, and so, despite our best efforts, we experienced the full “stalking” effect from the state.

Source: Washington Post