Adding to the overwhelming evidence that vaccines and autism are unrelated, a new study published in the child health-themed issue of the journal JAMA concludes that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) even among children at high risk for the disorder, notably children with siblings with […] More
One in four adults agree with not vaccinating for personal or religious reasons, finds an informal survey conducted by WebMD. Only two states in the United States, Mississippi and West Virginia, bar unvaccinated children from attending public schools without a significant medical reason. Neither state allows personal belief or religious exemptions. Mississippi has the highest […] More
From whom do people most trust information regarding vaccines? Health campaigns run by governmental organizations or online commentary from peers? Two recent experiments published in the Journal of Advertising suggest that online comments influence opinions on vaccination more than official announcements. For the study investigating from where both pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination individuals obtain information about […] More
Despite the ongoing fear among some parents that vaccines — specifically the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — cause autism, a new systematic review published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that there is “strong evidence that MMR vaccine is not associated with autism.” The review additionally concluded […] More
Most readers will not know the name Maurice Hilleman upon opening up Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases. Hilleman is an unsung hero who has saved countless lives throughout the world. He is the father of modern vaccines, creating eight of the recommended vaccines that almost every child in the United […] More
If you are a parent looking for information on the efficacy and safety of vaccines, look no further than Your Baby’s Best Shot: Why Vaccines Are Safe and Save Lives by Stacy Mintzer Herlihy and E. Allison Hagood. Although Herlihy is a freelance writer and Hagood is a psychology professor, the book is thoroughly researched. […] More
Despite years of studies from around the world that confirm the efficacy and safety of vaccines, many parents are still hesitant to vaccinate their children. Now three new studies have uncovered intriguing results on the support among the general public for the theory that vaccines cause adverse effects, particularly autism. The “vaccines cause autism” theory […] More
Deadly Choices: How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All is the first book that I read by infectious-disease expert Paul Offit, M.D. Offit is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of […] More
As autumn continues and eventually transitions into winter — and flu season — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that all individuals who are at least six months of age receive a flu vaccine. The flu shot […] More
With the number of vaccines offered today, some parents wonder whether children receive too many immunological components that overwhelm the immune system. Do children encounter more immunological components from vaccines today than in the past? The simple answer is no. To answer the question about the number of immunological components from current vaccines, one must […] More
Although an alarmingly increasing population in the United States is shunning the recommended vaccination schedule provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scientists at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently announced that evidence is lacking that following the recommended schedule causes developmental or health problems like autism or asthma in children. As […] More
According to recommendations by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pregnant women should receive the inactivated influenza vaccine at the start of the flu season. In the study entitled “Adverse events in pregnant women following administration of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine and live attenuated influenza vaccine […] More
