‘Leaky vaccines’ don’t affect the ability of the virus to reproduce and spread to others; they simply prevent it from causing disease.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District/Flickr
A Family Court “order” for parents of a child to not smoke around him and to limit their alcohol consumption while caring for him have invited the same old accusations about the “nanny state”.
A plant heavily colonized by a bacterial pathogen.
Jeannette Rapicavoli/UC Riverside
Jeannette Rapicavoli, University of California, Riverside
Vaccines aren’t just for animals anymore. Research shows priming plants with pathogen-derived compounds strengthens their immune systems and enhances protection against future attack.
Jim Carrey might mean well, but his Twitter rants against vaccines only make him look dumb.
EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Jim Carrey’s anti-vaccination tweets employ a number of techniques used by anti-science cranks. By understanding them, we can shield ourselves from well-intentioned but ill-informed voices.
Some of the equipment used during a Pap smear procedure. Pap smears are at the centre of the South African government’s cervical cancer prevention strategy, despite it yielding little success.
shutterstock
South Africa’s cervical cancer strategy has not yielded great results. Despite this, the country has still not opted for an alternative screening methods.
Dora Vargha, Birkbeck, University of London and David Brydan, Birkbeck, University of London
Spain’s fascist past has complicated the state’s relationship with anti-vaccination groups, now a rare disease has appeared again after 28 years.
Given the increasing number of vaccines recommended for adolescents and adults in Australia, the newly announced initiatives are a very good idea.
Wellcome Images/Flickr
Tucked away in the budget papers is an intitiative worthy of applause – the establishment of an adult immunisation register and the expansion of the childhood register to include adolescents.
Saving lives one needle at a time.
Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA
The plan to withhold payments of child-care and family tax benefits for unvaccinated children could cost non-compliant parents up to A$15,000 a year. But is it ethical to punish parents?
The government’s ‘no jab, no pay’ policy, which will restrict childcare benefits for those parents who refuse to have their kids immunised, may seem harsh to some. Most parents, however, will see the wisdom…
‘Naive’ theories of what does and doesn’t make sense.
Gravity by Shutterstock
Naive theories of all kinds persist in the face of contradictory arguments and even in those who know them to be false.
Removing the childcare rebate for parents who do not fully immunise their children is unnecessarily punitive and could have repercussions.
Oksana Shufrych/Shutterstock
Immunisation in Australia isn’t compulsory – and doesn’t need to be controversial. Most Australians recognise the incredible benefits that vaccination provides to prevent serious disease.
Not irrational, but serious trust issues.
Listening by Shutterstock
Since the uptick in outbreaks of measles in the US, those arguing for the right not to vaccinate their children have come under increasing scrutiny. There is no journal of “anti-vax psychology” reporting…
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