"Vaccins: à qui profite la piqûre?" (Vaccines - who benefits from the injection?)
Focusing on vaccine safety issues, this 45-minute documentary in French, produced by the Swiss television network TSR, was initially aired on 15 February 2005 on the channel's current affairs programme on health issues, 36.9°.
The film focuses on vaccine safety issues, with consideration of the challenges faced by medical experts today in ensuring high rates of vaccination. Among topics discussed are the paradox of increasing distrust in vaccines as the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases decreases, the increased risk of epidemics when vaccination coverage rates fall, concerns raised by parents about the safety of specific vaccines and the increasing numbers of vaccines recommended for children, the importance of scientific research as a basis for vaccination policy, and the role of medical practitioners in providing science-based advice to parents.
The film also describes how vaccines work, the history of vaccination and the campaigns to eradicate smallpox and polio and reduce measles mortality.
Among those speaking on the film about the above issues are representatives from the World Health Organization, Dr David Heymann, Representative of the Director-General for Polio Eradication, and Drs Philippe Duclos and Peter Strebel of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, Also interviewed are Professor Claire-Anne Siegrist, President of the Swiss Advisory Committee for Immunization, Anne-Marie Moulin, medical historian, Swiss medical practitioners and parents.
Although targeted at a Swiss audience, the film covers issues of global interest.