New Finding Advances the Search for a Universal Flu Vaccine

Jun 03 2019

The quest for a universal flu vaccine, one that provides long-lasting protection from multiple types of influenza, even those that might cause a pandemic, has moved a step closer. For the first time, scientists have shown that targeting a specific portion of the flu virus that varies relatively little from strain to strain offers protection in humans. The study was published in the June 3 issue of Nature Medicine. “If you have a universal flu vaccine you would take off the table the need to have to vaccinate persons every single year, and change the vaccine every year,” says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Each year in the U.S., seasonal influenza, or flu, kills more than 36,000 people and hospitalizes 200,000 more. Worldwide, influenza causes 650,000 deaths annually.

Source: Scientific American

Latest News About The Measles Outbreak, International Travel, And Preventative Measures

Jun 02 2019

With summer travel just beginning to destinations worldwide, some wonder what's being done to prevent measles outbreaks from accelerating in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the increase in measles is due in large part to travelers who get the disease abroad and bring it back to the U.S., then spread the highly contagious virus to unvaccinated people. As reported in a recent Forbes piece, The World Health Organization has shown that measles cases worldwide have risen 300% in the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period last year. Africa was the worst impacted, with cases up 700%. So far this year, 170 countries have reported 112,163 measles cases to the WHO; last year during the same time-frame, 163 countries reported 28,124 cases. The stats could be even worse, as WHO maintains that only one in ten cases globally gets reported.

Source: Forbes

California Governor Has Doubts About Tougher Vaccine Rules

Jun 01 2019

Gov. Gavin Newsom says he has concerns about enacting tougher rules that limit doctors from granting medical exemptions for children's vaccinations. The measure would give state public health officials instead of local doctors the authority to decide which children can skip their shots before attending school. It's being considered by the state Assembly amid growing cases of measles.

Source: NBC Los Angeles

Interviews with Orthodox Jewish moms reveal barriers to measles vaccination

May 31 2019

Findings from a small case series of interviews with Orthodox Jewish mothers revealed several factors that are impacting childhood vaccination rates in New York communities with large Jewish populations. These results may help officials tailor interventions to improve vaccine uptake because Jewish mothers hold important influence among social networks within Orthodox communities “Our data suggest that establishing trust, influencing social networks as well as media and cultural or religious factors among ultra-Orthodox Jewish mothers may have a favorable impact on the measles vaccination,” Charles H. Hennekens, MD, DrPH, senior author and senior academic advisor at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine, said in a press release.

Source: Healio

U.S. measles cases reach highest level in 27 years

May 31 2019

The number of measles cases reported in the U.S. this year has now reached a level not seen in 27 years, causing concern among public health officials that the country could soon lose its measles elimination status. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that there have been 971 cases of measles reported in the first five months of 2019. That surpasses the 963 cases for the entire year in 1992. By far, the greatest number of measles cases this year has been reported in two areas of New York: Rockland County and New York City. The CDC said that those outbreaks have been ongoing for nearly eight months.

Source: NBC News

It Looked As Though Millions Of Babies Would Miss Out On A Lifesaving Vaccine

May 31 2019

Imagine for a minute: A company makes a vaccine that protects kids from a life-threatening disease but, with little warning, decides to stop selling it in the U.S. That's exactly what happened last year in West Africa, for a vaccine against rotavirus — a disease that kills about 200,000 young children and babies each year. As NPR reported in November, the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. announced it was ending a long-term agreement to supply its rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, at a reduced price to families in four West African countries. At the same time, the company began selling the vaccine in China, for more than 12 times the price. Merck's decision meant that more than 2 million babies were at risk of missing the vaccine, health experts told NPR.

Source: NPR

The U.S. Is Entering a Public Health Crisis. Moms and Dads Are Creating It.

May 30 2019

​Measles was least expected in the United States. The disease is generally concentrated in poor countries, low-resource settings, and areas of war and conflict. The measles vaccine is considered to be the best preventive measure, with the vast majority of vaccinated children never having the disease even with a single dose of vaccination. Since the advent of measles vaccine in the 1960s, the number of measles cases in the United States has been reduced by more than 95%. Rightfully so, vaccination is considered one of the greatest American public health achievements in the 21st century, with millions of disease cases being prevented each year. Since 2000, the measles vaccine has saved more than 20 million lives worldwide. So, what happened? We did not become a war zone, or run low on resources or vaccines. We were not facing a crisis — we invited one. Now we are risking a public health calamity. A dangerous, but preventable cocktail of medical misinformation, conspiracy theories, fake news, political dialogue, anti-vaccination movements, and personal beliefs are responsible for this global wave of many infectious and vaccine-preventable diseases that have surged worldwide, with the United States being an unlikely victim. Given this dangerous cocktail and its rapid spread via social and mass media, it is not surprising that the World Health Organization lists vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 global health threats in 2019. Measles cases are expected to rise and continue to spread across the world, and the single major reason is gap in vaccine coverage, according to WHO.

Source: Fatherly

Measles record means US could lose elimination status

May 30 2019

Sixty new cases were reported in the past week, bringing this year's total to 971 cases in 26 US states - the highest since 1994. The disease was declared effectively eliminated from the US in 2000. Recent outbreaks have been attributed to foreign travellers spreading it to those lacking vaccinations in the US. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Thursday: "If these outbreaks continue through summer and fall, the United States may lose its measles elimination status. "That loss would be a huge blow for the nation and erase the hard work done by all levels of public health.

Source: BBC News

Health officials are targeting communities battling measles. Anti-vaxxers are, too.

How the anti-vaccine movement took hold in the U.S. The modern anti-vaccine movement began in the 1980s with a mother in Virginia. She believed her son had been injured by the DPT vaccine — and went on to start one of the most powerful anti-vaccination organizations in the United States. The anti-vaccine advocates have a rhetorical advantage over scientists. They speak with certainty about the ill effects of vaccines. And today, in the echo chambers of social media, the movement has metastasized into something far darker, with charismatic speakers, scientific-sounding theories and well-produced videos to back it up. “You have scientists and researchers who cannot talk in absolutes when it comes to risk. There is nothing that is without risk,” says health reporter Lena Sun. “They can say the preponderance of the evidence shows this, or the data shows this — that is not nearly as compelling or heart-wrenching as a mother who comes to you and says, ‘The light went out of my son's eyes after he got a vaccination.’ ”

Source: The Washington Post

Opinion: Colorado lawmakers are gambling with measles

May 26 2019

Senate legislators and Gov. Jared Polis better pray measles doesn’t come to Colorado the way it has to California, Washington and New York. After weeks of hard work and compromise by committed legislators, public health officials, scientists and concerned parents, House Bill 1312 was ready for discussion on the Senate floor. Suddenly, politics came into play, and a measure that could have closed the gap between immunized and unimmunized children while preserving parental choice was killed. Colorado’s rapidly falling vaccination rates are leaving risky clusters of unvaccinated people who will likely be the catalyst for the next epidemic.

Source: The Colorado Sun