Vaccination uptake is influenced by many factors and carries a variety of meanings – social, political, economic, ideological, moral as well as biological.
Singapore will start charging people who choose not to be vaccinated for any COVID-related hospital care. While Australia’s hospitals are also under pressure, we shouldn’t follow suit.
Chickenpox has largely disappeared from the public’s memory thanks to a highly effective vaccine. But the virus’s clever life cycle allows it to reappear in later adulthood in the form of shingles.
Jeffrey Hirsch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The reasons have a lot to do with the nature of unions as representative of workers’ views, as well as the importance of protecting their right to bargain.
The focus of the government seems to be about how many people can get vaccinated rather than ensuring the greatest protection against severe disease and deaths.
Vaccination campaigns like the ones that eventually eliminated polio and measles in the United States required decades of education and awareness in order to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. population.
When making the decision whether to vaccinate children aged five to 11 against COVID-19, regulators in Canada must rely on sound ethics as well as sound science.
We surveyed Albertans, and while most were vaccinated, we found certain groups were less likely to be vaccinated than others. Those being people facing economic hardship and political affiliation.
A recent survey finds that the pandemic made it harder for many US households to put food on the table. It also changed the ways in which people buy and store food.
As boosters are authorized for all three COVID-19 shots available in the US, the ability to swap out vaccine types looks to be a boon to the immune system.
Public health experts know that schools are likely sites for the spread of disease, and laws tying school attendance to vaccination go back to the 1800s.
Michael Plank, University of Canterbury and Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Today’s announcement sent a clear message to all regions – get to a 90% vaccination rate or face the possibility of a lockdown when COVID-19 inevitably arrives.
In light of mounting research showing the serious risks of contracting COVID-19 during pregnancy, the CDC is re-upping its urgency that pregnant women get their shots.
Michelle Wise, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
COVID vaccines have no effect on fertility, do not impact the chance of a miscarriage, and are safe and effective while pregnant. Here’s what the science shows.
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