Blog archive

The Lancet  COMMENT| VOLUME 392, ISSUE 10161.   On Oct 17, 2018, WHO reported 52958 measles cases in the European region since the beginning of 2018, which is more than double the 23 757 cases reported for Africa in the same …more

A new Lancet editorial on the “Decade of Vaccines”, takes a long term view and recognizes that, ” in the current social and political climate, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate.” In addition to acknowledging advances, it takes a sobering …more

A new BBC investigation into fake news in Africa and India shows the viral power of misinformation on public sentiment  and behaviours. These dynamics are equally dangerous in their power to undermine vaccine confidence and trigger vaccine refusal and the …more

High confidence in vaccination programmes is crucial for maintaining high coverage rates, especially at levels that exceed those required for herd immunity. Across the European Union (EU), however, vaccine delays and refusals are contributing to declining immunisation rates in a …more

published in Nature 562, 309 (2018) A century after the world’s worst flu epidemic, rapid spread of misinformation is undermining trust in vaccines crucial to public health. A hundred years ago this month, the death rate from the 1918 influenza was at …more

  The Philippines’ highly politicised response to newly-reported risks of a dengue vaccine led to a dramatic drop in public trust in vaccines overall, in  new research published in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics. Led by the Vaccine Confidence Project at …more

Thanks to Naveen Thacker for this timely commentary: I have been a paediatrician for over three decades and have had parents come to me with many questions about their children’s health. But over the last year I have seen a …more

Below are extracts from the eighteenth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) convened on 15 August 2018 by the Director General  at WHO headquarters with members, advisers and invited Member States :   Vaccine …more

The theme of this year’s AIDS2018—International AIDS Conference, was on the theme of “Breaking down Barriers, Building Bridges.”  The opening plenary session included a presentation by AIDS physician, Dr. David Malebranche. As I listened to his presentation, there were moments …more

Original Comment published by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine      The experimental Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV is being deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help stop the spread of the disease. At this crucial time Dr Heidi Larson, Director …more