Measles and vaccines are back in the news. The UK has lost its measles-free status, according to Public Health England. The Guardian reports that about 30,000 children are starting primary school next month with no protection against measles, mumps and rubella, while 90,000 have had only the first of the two vaccines necessary for protection….
Measles, MMR and vaccines: where do vaccine anxieties come from?
NEW STEPS PUBLICATIONS: WATER REFORM AND VACCINES
We’ve just published two new Working Papers: one on Water reform in South Africa, the other on polio vaccine development. Photo: Growing vegetables near the Driekoppies dam, Lomati river by Synne Movik In policy discussions in post-apartheid South Africa, existing users were strongly protected, and redistribution to ‘historically disadvantaged individuals’ was seen as risky. The…
HARD TO SWALLOW
“Vaccination is one of medicine’s greatest achievements, so why do so many people fear it?” Jim Giles of New Scientist asks this question of STEPS Centre director Melissa Leach and others in this week’s magazine. The feature covers many of the issues Melissa and James Fairhead write about in their new book, Vaccine Anxieties.
ACCOMODATING DISSENT
By JULIA DAY, STEPS Centre member Providing cures for health problems isn’t enough, if people’s personal or cultural beliefs clash with the scientific approach. STEPS Centre director Melissa Leach argues in this week’s Nature magazine that policy-makers must recognize and engage with these objections. Melissa also talks about her research into vaccination on the…
FOOT-AND-MOUTH: TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS
By Erik Millstone, STEPS Centre member The new UK foot and mouth crisis highlights the need for the government to drag the veterinary medicines directorate into the 21st century, says Erik Millstone in a comment piece for the Guardian’s Comment is Free website.