Beds with patients in an emergency hospital in Camp Funston, Kansas, during the influenza epidemic around 1918.
National Museum of Health and Medicine.
A vaccine recommendation from a health professional and convenient access will make the biggest difference to uptake.
Signs from a protest in 2015 against a California bill that prohibits parents from using a religious exemption as a reason to not vaccinate their children. The bill became law.
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Opposition to vaccines still prevents many children from getting needed preventative care. Understanding who is opposed, and why, can help, but the answers may surprise you.
A recent study of medical students and residents found they were reluctant to engage with parents who have vaccination fears. But listening to parents is important.
Olena Yakobchuck/Shutterstock.com
A recent study suggests that shunning parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their kids isn’t the best strategy. A better strategy might be old-fashioned, but it works.
Parents are concerned combination vaccines, which protect against several diseases at once, can be too much for a young immune system to cope with.
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Vaccines against multiple diseases in one jab strengthen kids’ immune systems, not weaken them. Here’s why we shouldn’t fear these combination vaccines.
Rwandan girls were targeted in the country’s successful HPV vaccination programme.
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Rwanda’s vaccination programme for girls against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease was a huge success, thanks to implementation science.
Dozens of studies and numerous reviews have demonstrated the safety of vaccines.
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In an era when opinion often trumps evidence in public health issues, it’s time to support and invest in evidence-based medicine to protect the public from dangerous, poorly informed beliefs.
An epidemic of Group B meningococcal disease in New Zealand prompted the development of a vaccine, which also provides moderate protection against gonorrhoea.
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As the WHO calls for urgency to address antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea, new research shows that a vaccine developed against an unrelated disease offers protection.
In Australia we still vaccinate against polio, but not tuberculosis. Why, and how do we decide?
from www.shutterstock.com.au
Does science have an answer to science denial? Just as being vaccinated protects you from a later full-blown infection, a bit of misinformation explained could help ward off other cases down the road.
Most immunisation campaigns continue to primarily focus on infants and children, but almost 4 million Australian adults are not vaccinated against preventable diseases.
There are better ways to boost vaccination rates than excluding kids from child care.
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A push for all unvaccinated kids to be excluded from day care is coercive, punishes families and has no evidence to back it. Here’s what we can do instead to boost vaccination rates.
For some parents, the decision to vaccinate requires more than just objective evidence.
rocketboom/flickr
Whilst most parents do vaccinate, health professionals often find it difficult to talk with those who are hesitant or decline. A new resource provides information and communication support.
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson told Insiders: ‘You can have a test on your child first’ before vaccinating.
AAP/Richard Wainwright
Speaking on the ABC program Insiders, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson suggested there are tests available to see if children will have an adverse reaction to vaccinations. We asked three experts.
Pauline Hanson told the ABC she advised people to ‘go out and do their own research’ on the question of vaccination.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand