December 11, 2013
Immunizations - General Overview
- Immunization Action Coalition
- The National Immunization Program
- Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
- National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
- The National Network for Immunization Information
- Vaccine Education Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Institute for Vaccine Safety, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
- National Partnership for Immunization
- Information on vaccinations
- The Vaccine Page
News & Features
A report by the Institute of Medicine found that the chickenpox vaccine can cause illness many years later, but that there is no evidence that the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella causes autism.
Gardasil was introduced as a guard against cervical cancer, but it is increasingly marketed as an important vaccine for boys, too.
As a result of myriad obstacles, just 10 percent of adults over age 60 were vaccinated against shingles in 2009 in the United States.
Five years have passed since the Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine against shingles. By now, experts had expected a substantial proportion of people older than 60, the most vulnerable population, to be protected from outbreaks of this nasty viral disease and the persistent, debilitating pain it can leave behind. Indeed, the vaccine, called Zostavax, could so sharply reduce the number of adults who suffer from shingles -- currently more than one million a year -- that in March, the Food and Drug Administration approved its use by those ages 50 and older. But even with this weapon at the ready, the campaign against shingles has bogged down. Some experts say it never really got under way.
An experimental tuberculosis shot for children works best when it is not given with other vaccines, a new study has found.
The target is to immunize more than 250 million children by 2015. Vaccines, medical experts say, save more lives than any public health measure other than clean water and sewage.
Public and private donors have pledged $4.3 billion toward vaccinating children against a variety of diseases, according to the GAVI Alliance, which held its first fund-raising conference for vaccines in London on Monday. That exceeds the $3.7 billion that the alliance -- created 11 years ago as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization to help poor countries pay for vaccines -- had hoped to raise. Some is matching money contingent on other pledges.
A new meningococcal vaccine, just introduced in West Africa, has produced very encouraging results, according to the public-private partnership coordinating its distribution. This year's meningitis season is almost over, and there have been only four confirmed cases of meningitis A in Burkina Faso, the first country to offer the shot to all citizens under 30 (above, a child was vaccinated there). Three infections were in people from Togo, where the vaccine is not used; they had crossed the border for care. The fourth was in a Burkinan who was not vaccinated.
Several makers of children's vaccines announced Monday that they would lower prices in the world's poorest countries, a move that could save donors billions of dollars and help bring the vaccines to more children (above, a polio vaccination in Congo). GlaxoSmithKline cut the price of its rotavirus vaccine by two-thirds. Merck offered to do the same with its cervical cancer vaccine and to reduce the cost of its rotavirus vaccine by an unspecified amount. Indian companies like the Serum Institute and Panacea Biotec said they would cut their prices on a vaccine protecting against five diseases.
The decision to make the information public could lead to cuts in the agency’s costs.
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