Tag Archives: vaccines

Fascinating deep dive from the New York Times: Though the situation may seem improbable to some, anti-vaccine sentiment has been building for decades, a byproduct of an internet humming with rumor and misinformation; the backlash against Big Pharma; an infatuation with celebrities that gives special credence to the anti-immunization statements from actors like Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey and Alicia Silverstone, …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: The California Senate was forced from its chamber and halted work for more than three hours on the final day of its session after an opponent of mandatory childhood vaccinations poured what appeared to be blood on lawmakers from the gallery Friday evening. Stunned lawmakers left the chamber and security officers cleared the gallery and …

Gothamist reports: New York City’s biggest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years, which predominantly sickened ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of Williamsburg and Borough Park, has ended. According to Health Department officials, 42 days, or two consecutive incubation periods for the highly contagious virus have passed, allowing the city to declare itself measles-free. The last recorded infection was in mid-July. An emergency …

The Washington Post reports: A wealthy Manhattan couple has emerged as significant financiers of the anti-vaccine movement, contributing more than $3 million in recent years to groups that stoke fears about immunizations online and at live events — including two forums this year at the epicenter of measles outbreaks in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Hedge fund manager and philanthropist …

CBS New York reports: In response to one of the worst outbreaks of measles in a generation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed off on legislation that now ends religious exemptions for vaccinations in New York. New York state senators passed the bill Thursday evening and the governor quickly signed off on the measure. Since the beginning of June, there have …

The Daily Beast reports: Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist whose recent work has focused increasingly on baseless allegations that vaccines are unsafe and can injure a statistically minuscule population of “medically fragile” children, appeared at the California State Assembly beside an unlikely scene partner: actress Jessica Biel. In a series of Instagram posts, first reported in Jezebel …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. measles cases have climbed to their highest level in 25 years, largely because misinformation is turning parents against vaccines. New York City health officials on Wednesday reported 61 new cases since late last week. According to an Associated Press count, that pushes this year’s national tally past the 667 cases reported for all of 2014. …

NBC News Philadelphia reports: As a mumps outbreak continues to grow at Temple University, school health officials said Thursday they will offer free vaccinations to students and staff. At least 86 people are tied to the mumps outbreak at the North Philadelphia university which has some 40,000 students and 4,500 staff members. The Philadelphia health department said Thursday that 16 …

The Daily Beast reports: An unvaccinated Oregon boy became the first person in over 30 years to contract the deadly tetanus infection in the state. The 6-year-old boy was playing on a farm when he cut his head, according to a case report by the CDC. His parents cleaned and stitched the wound at home, but a week later, he …

Yahoo News reports: Anti-vaccination activists, some with their (presumably unvaccinated) children, packed the Dirksen Senate Office Building Tuesday morning for a hearing that they hoped would vindicate, or at least recognize as legitimate, their fear that protecting their families from measles runs the risk of something worse, including autism and other disorders. As the doors closed on the room where …

The Associated Press reports: Anti-vaccine activists packed an Olympia, Washington public hearing Friday to oppose a bill that would make it harder for families to opt out of vaccination requirements for measles, mumps and rubella amid the state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. An estimated 700 people, most of them opposed to stricter requirements, lined up before …

Newsweek reports: The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed vaccine hesitancy—the delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite their availability—as one of its top 10 health threats facing the world in 2019. The phenomenon has taken hold in a number of countries around the world in recent times, and notably in the U.S. as well. Data from the Centers …

STAT News reports: Bill Gates was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office last month when the conversation turned to the notion of a universal flu vaccine — probably, as Gates recalled in an interview, “the longest conversation about universal flu vaccine that the president’s ever had.” “You should associate yourself with American innovation. Wouldn’t you love to have …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump remains committed to investigating a link between vaccines and autism, and his staff are still in contact with environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about leading a “vaccine safety commission” to investigate the issue, Kennedy told reporters Wednesday. Kennedy, in his first comments on the proposed commission since meeting with Trump on Jan. 10, said he …

Because of course. Reuters reports: Vaccination skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will oversee a presidential panel to review vaccine safety and science at the request of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in a move likely to reignite debate despite now-debunked research that tied childhood immunizations to autism. “President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policy, and he …

Another classic Alex Jones meltdown, Fox News host denies existence of bipolar disorder, and more of Fox News attacking Disney’s Frozen.

Many outlets are pointing to this 2008 quote from Clinton: “I am committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines.”

“Hello, SCIENCE?”

Unbelievable: Amid an outbreak of measles that has spread across 14 states, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Monday said that parents “need to have some measure of choice” about vaccinating their children against the virus, breaking with President Obama and much of the medical profession. In remarks here, Mr. Christie stopped short of recommending that parents immunize their …