Vaccines, Calling the Shots – New NOVA Special, September 10th
NOVA has a one hour special on child vaccination coming out on September 10th, which is sure to stimulate some heated conversation around the topic. It also features heavily University of Michigan...
View ArticleVaccine Risk Communication in the Context of Web 2.0: Respecting the Power of...
I just returned from an interesting small-group conference on discussions of vaccination risk in the era of Web 2.0. The conference was sponsored by the Center for Empirical Research in Economics and...
View ArticleWeb 2.0 Means Public Health Can Join the Online Vaccination Discussions… or...
About a year ago, I wrote a blog post here about the role of stories in vaccination decisions. It was the product of a small group research conference I attended in Erfurt, Germany that brought...
View ArticleFamiliarity and the Shingles Vaccine
One of the greatest areas of success of public health has been the discovery and widespread adoption of vaccines to prevent infectious disease. Polio, smallpox, tetanus, diphtheria, …. The list of...
View ArticleWhy don’t more kids get flu shots?
As a parent, I don’t look forward to long winters of runny noses and respiratory infections. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my kids are very skilled at picking up every cold and stomach bug...
View ArticleUniversity of Michigan, polio, and NOVA’s new documentary on vaccines
On April 12 1955, the world was informed that the Salk polio vaccine was up to 90% effective in preventing paralytic polio. At the time, it was hailed as one of the most anticipated announcements in...
View ArticleWhy vaccinate against HPV?
Since 2009 Gardisal has been recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a safe and effective protection against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for both girls and boys...
View ArticlePublic Health Needs Humility to Address Vaccine Fears
In January 2011, the New York Times published an op-ed piece by Michael Willrich titled “Why Parents Fear the Needle.” I won’t go through Professor Willrich’s narrative in detail, though I do think...
View ArticleWhy aren’t we more scared of measles?
Measles is one of the leading causes of death amongst children worldwide. In 2012, an estimated 122,000 people died of the disease according to the World Health Organization – equivalent to 14 deaths...
View ArticleVaccines, nanotechnology and more from the U-M Risk Science Center
September was a busy month at the Risk Science Center. To coincide with NOVA’s new documentary Vaccines – Calling The Shots, we’ve posted a number pieces on the topic of vaccines. Nanotechnology has...
View ArticleGoogle goes all Polio and Public Health
If you hadn’t noticed, today’s Google doodle celebrates the 100 year anniversary of Jonas Salk’s birth – Salk pioneered the first successful inactivated virus based vaccine for Polio. As The Guardian...
View ArticleWhy don’t more people get flu shots?
A few weeks ago I talked with Katie Wells at Michigan Radio about why some people are reluctant to get flu shots – myself included up to last year. The interview was rebroadcast on Marketplace this...
View ArticleWhat is the risk of dying if you catch measles?
If you catch measles, what are your chances of dying? When I was a kid, measles was one of those things you were expected to catch. I had it when I was five, and must confess, I don’t remember much...
View ArticleMeasles mortality rates – 2008-2011 outbreak, France
Yesterday, I posted a piece examining the oft-quoted mortality rate for measles of one to two deaths per thousand cases of infection. Today, I want to look at what can be learned from more recent and...
View ArticleThe science of “anti-vaccination”– a great primer from SciShow
Yesterday, Hank Green and the YouTube channel SciShow posted a particularly good video on the anti-vaccination movement. Unlike many commentators from within the science community, instead of vilifying...
View Article
