Chamber of Commerce endorses vaccination bill

Feb 14 2020

A policy committee of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce voted on Thursday to support a bill aimed at boosting vaccination rates among schoolchildren. “Vaccines are an effective and proven way to prevent diseases and save lives, which also leads to lower health care costs down the road,” said Loren Furman, senior vice president for the Colorado Chamber. “Our members in the business community strongly support Senate Bill 163 because increasing Colorado’s inadequate childhood immunization rate will lower costs and improve public health across the board.” The Chamber’s HealthCare Council, one of five policy committees that interacts with legislators and regulators, focuses on legislation that affects the cost of healthcare. Furman added that the cost to treat diseases that vaccines are intended to prevent is “significant”.

Source: Colorado Politics

Doctor who died by suicide may have falsified children's vaccination records, sheriff says

Feb 14 2020

Authorities are investigating the medical records of a Chicago-area pediatrician who died by suicide after finding a note that raised questions over his vaccination practices, sheriff's deputies said. Dr. Van Koinis died in September, but the Cook County Sheriff's Office said that when investigating his death, there were "record keeping issues" that made it unclear which patients received vaccinations and which did not. Investigators also found evidence to suggest that Koinis did not vaccinate children at parents' requests, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Source: USA Today

How vaccine hesitancy is contributing to deadly measles resurgence

Feb 13 2020

As health care officials around the world struggle to respond to novel coronavirus, another deadly -- and far more contagious -- disease is on the rise, fueled in large part by insufficient immunization. In some countries, military conflict diminishes access to vaccines. But in other parts of the world, misinformation and vaccine hesitancy allow the disease to flourish. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

Source: PBS News Hour

Timetable For A Vaccine Against The New Coronavirus? Maybe This Fall

Feb 12 2020

Right now scientists are trying to accomplish something that was inconceivable a decade ago: create a vaccine against a previously unknown virus rapidly enough to help end an outbreak of that virus. In this case, they're trying to stop the spread of the new coronavirus that has already infected tens of thousands of people, mainly in China, and given rise to a respiratory condition now known as COVID-19. Typically, making a new vaccine takes a decade or longer. But new genetic technologies and new strategies make researchers optimistic that they can shorten that timetable to months, and possibly weeks — and have a tool by the fall that can slow the spread of infection.

Source: NPR

Shingles Can Increase Stroke Risk. Getting the Vaccine Can Reduce It

Feb 11 2020

Shingles is bad enough on its own — but the painful illness may also increase your risk of stroke. Conversely, getting vaccinated against shingles may also help prevent stroke, especially among older adults. Those are the conclusions from a new study that will be presented next week at the annual American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2020 in Los Angeles. Researchers said they discovered that study participants who received the vaccine ZostavaxTrusted Source (zoster vaccine live) reduced their risk of both types of stroke — ischemic, caused by blood clots, and hemorrhagic, caused by bleeding.

Source: Healthline

Colorado Dems Wade Into Vaccinations Debate With Bill Aimed At Child Vax Rates

Feb 11 2020

Should Colorado lawmakers change state law in an effort to encourage more people to get their children vaccinated? The debate starts with the introduction of Senate Bill 20-163. It would require parents who want to opt a child out of vaccines to either get a signature from an immunization provider or watch an online informational video produced by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The measure doesn’t change which exemptions are allowed. In Colorado, people can opt-out for medical or non-medical reasons, such as a personal or religious belief. Right now parents turn in a form to a child’s school or daycare provider.

Source: CPR

Keystone Mumps Outbreak: 6th Employee Diagnosed With Viral Disease

Feb 10 2020

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – An outbreak of mumps continues to spread in Summit County. Public health officials confirm a 6th employee at Keystone Resort tested positive for the viral disease. Officials said the risk of mumps spreading to the public is very low. The outbreak was first reported on Wednesday among three employees. “We are continuing our investigation and providing technical assistance and support to our partners at Vail Resorts in an effort to slow the spread of disease,” said Sara Lopez, Nurse Manager at Summit County Public Health. “All cases are linked to the employee population and at this time, we have no knowledge of further spread into the community.”

Source: CBS 4 Denver

Kafer: Vaccination education is great, but non-medical exemptions foolish

Feb 07 2020

When a good friend doesn’t return a phone call right we assume goodwill based on past experience. She’s super busy, not uncaring; she’ll call when her schedule clears. We interpret new information based on what we already believe to be true. It works well except when the original premise is wrong. If we believe incorrectly that our friend is uncaring, the unreturned phone call becomes proof of her callous indifference. Confirmation bias is the human propensity to interpret new information so that it confirms what we already believe. This cognitive disposition is one of the reasons it’s so difficult to change one’s mind or that of others. Consider the following statements: Vaccines are a safe and effective way to prevent disease according to the Centers for Disease Control. For every one million doses of vaccine given between 2006 and 2017, approximately one individual was compensated for an allergic reaction, shoulder wound, or other injury from the injection. During these years, Americans received more than 3.4 billion doses of vaccines. Immunization likely saved at least 350,000 lives and prevented 10 million hospitalizations.

Source: Denver Post

Facebook under fire for permitting anti-vaccine groups

Feb 07 2020

NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny joins Ayman Mohyeldin to discuss one NBC News headline that shocked many on social media. its real-life implications.

Source: MSNBC

On Facebook, anti-vaxxers urged a mom not to give her son Tamiflu. He later died.

Feb 06 2020

Facebook groups that routinely traffic in anti-vaccination propaganda have become a resource for people seeking out a wide variety of medical information — including about the ongoing flu season. Facebook hosts a vast network of groups that trade in false health information. On “Stop Mandatory Vaccination,” one of the largest known health misinformation groups with more than 178,000 members, people have solicited advice for how to deal with the flu. Members of the group have previously spread conspiracies that outbreaks of preventable diseases are “hoaxes” perpetrated by the government, and use the groups to mass-contact parents whose children have died and suggest without evidence that vaccines may be to blame.

Source: NBC News