Inoculation

18 Stories

Catherine the Great Letter From 1787 Is Suddenly Timely

It makes clear she was very much for inoculations

(Newser) - An 18th-century letter going up for auction in London Wednesday has very modern relevance, thanks to its subject: inoculations. As the New York Times reports, the scourge of the time was smallpox, and in the 1787 letter, Catherine the Great pushes for variolation, an early inoculation process. "Such inoculation...

This Long-Awaited Moment Arrives in US

First doses of COVID vaccine are administered

(Newser) - It's a big moment in the COVID fight: The first doses of a vaccine have been administered in the US. "I feel hopeful today. Relieved," ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay tells the AP after getting her shot at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. She was...

Russia Will Start Mass COVID Vaccinations in October

Despite the fact that clinical trials are not yet complete

(Newser) - Clinical trials are not yet complete, but Russia plans to roll out a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in October. Teachers and health care workers will be the first to get the coronavirus vaccine currently being developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, which is reportedly set to begin Phase III trials—...

Fauci Has Good News, Not as Good News on Vaccine

He says we should have hundreds of millions of doses by 2021, but how long will immunity last?

(Newser) - Dr. Anthony Fauci offered some hopeful comments Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic: By the end of the year, the US should have 100 million doses of one of the candidate COVID-19 vaccines, he said during a live Q&A. "Then, by the beginning of 2021, we hope to have...

Drop in Vaccinations 'Could Set Us Back Years'

CDC warns of possible measles outbreak

(Newser) - The CDC is warning about possible outbreaks of diseases, including measles, as immunizations fall amid the coronavirus pandemic. The organization analyzed immunization data on children in Michigan up to the age of 2, finding a drop in vaccinations for all diseases except hepatitis B—a vaccine typically administered in hospitals...

MIA Said She'd 'Choose Death' Over Vaccine. Now, a New Tiff

Rapper claims 'British Vogue' pulled feature on her over controversial vaccination remark

(Newser) - Last month, rapper MIA started a bit of a hubbub regarding vaccines in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and she now says her remarks cost her a high-profile magazine feature. At the end of March, the musician also known as Maya Arulpragasam tweeted , "If I have to choose...

Strange Results After Pediatrician's Suicide Sparks Vaccine Probe

Some former patients lack immunity they thought they would have; others don't

(Newser) - An Illinois sheriff's office investigating the vaccination practices of a deceased Chicago-area pediatrician announced Monday that tests have revealed several of the doctor's former patients lack immunity to diseases against which they or their parents believed they had been vaccinated, the AP reports. The Cook County Sheriff's...

Doctor Makes Vaccine Confession in Suicide Note

Authorities are concerned Dr. Van Koinis was falsifying vaccine records

(Newser) - When a pediatrician in the suburbs of Chicago committed suicide last year, he left behind an odd suicide note—and now authorities are asking the public for help. Dr. Van Koinis, whose practice was in Evergreen Park, Illinois, indicated in his note that he had been "averse" to vaccinations,...

How DIY Smallpox Vaccinations in the Civil War Spread Syphilis

Civil War soldiers trying to ward off one disease often got more than they bargained for

(Newser) - Smallpox has been eradicated and the vaccine is no longer necessary, but the infectious disease used to kill millions, and is credited with taking down Pharaoh Ramses V, the Roman Empire, and even the Aztec Empire. It's also credited with inspiring the first vaccination in 1796, when a doctor...

10 States With Lowest Vaccination Rates

Wyoming gets worst marks

(Newser) - Concerned about the anti-vaccination movement? Check out 24/7 Wall St. , which ranks all 50 states by their vaccination rates. The 10 with the worst:
  1. Wyoming: 72.8% of infants and toddlers have received the recommended dosage of the DTaP immunization, and 34.3% of adults get inoculated against influenza.
  2. West
...

Refusal to Vaccinate Tied to Resurgence of Measles, Pertussis

More than half of recent measles cases appeared in unvaccinated people: study

(Newser) - Wondering what's behind recent outbreaks of measles and whooping cough in the US? Perhaps not surprisingly, a new study published in JAMA finds that people who don't vaccinate—for non-medical reasons—contribute to the problem, Reuters reports. Since measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, there...

California Poised to Make Vaccines Mandatory

Under bill that cleared assembly, no more religious exemptions would be allowed

(Newser) - After its recent major measles outbreak, California is pretty close to becoming only the third state to deny vaccine exemptions for religious reasons. The state assembly today approved legislation that would require all kids entering public or private daycare, elementary school, or secondary school for the first time in the...

Ex Anti-Vaxxer: All 7 of My Kids Got Whooping Cough

Tara Hills tells her story in attempt to reach others like her

(Newser) - Tara Hills used to be anti-vaccination, but a nearby measles outbreak changed her mind and convinced her to get her seven kids, all of whom were under-vaccinated or completely unvaccinated, up to date. The Canadian mom set up a schedule with their family doctor ... but just days before they went...

Chris Christie on Vaccines: Parents Should Have 'Choice'

While President Obama says, 'get your kids vaccinated'

(Newser) - Chris Christie is in the UK—technically on a trade mission for New Jersey, but most are looking at the trip as a precursor to his seemingly inevitable presidential campaign—and today in England he was asked about vaccinations in light of the US measles outbreak. "We vaccinate ours...

How to Stop the Anti-Vaccine Movement

Peer pressure—and more regulation, writes Michael Hiltzik

(Newser) - In the wake of the Disneyland-linked measles outbreak, which has now hit 87 cases, columnist Michael Hiltzik takes a look back at Jenny McCarthy in a Los Angeles Times piece whose headline dubs her a "public menace" for popularizing the anti-vaccine movement. Hiltzik also reminds us that McCarthy, who...

Vaccine Scarier Than Swine Flu: Poll
 Vaccine Scarier 
 Than Swine Flu: Poll 
H1N1 OUTBREAK

Vaccine Scarier Than Swine Flu: Poll

Concern high and building, but 60+% don't plan to get a shot

(Newser) - Americans are spooked by the growing threat of swine flu but even warier of the vaccine. Half of respondents in a recent Washington Post poll are a “great deal” or “somewhat” worried they or a family member will catch H1N1, up from 39% in August. But more than...

Squeamish Feds Learn From 1976 Swine Flu Debacle

Panic and Gerald Ford caused hundreds to receive unnecessary shot

(Newser) - Federal health officials are hoping to avoid a catastrophic case of déjà vu as they develop plans to inoculate Americans against swine flu, the Washington Post reports. A vaccine released during the 1976 flu outbreak left dozens dead and hundreds reporting serious side effects like blindness and paralysis. Now,...

POX STRIKES BACK
POX
STRIKES
BACK

POX STRIKES BACK

Chickenpox docs want second doses of vaccine—but some parents are resisting

(Newser) - Doctors now recommend that kids get a second dose of chickenpox vaccine, but a lot of wary parents are balking. A recent study concluded that the longer patients had gone since getting the first dose, the more likely they were to contract the pox, and the more likely that it...

18 Stories