Videos reduce HPV vaccine hesitancy among parents

Jul 16 2021

During a communication experiment, brief videos of a pediatrician announcing to parents that their child is due for an HPV vaccine and easing their concerns reduced HPV vaccine hesitancy, data showed. The CDC has previously reported that there has been some progress in adolescent HPV vaccination rates — 71.5% of adolescents aged 13 to 17 years received one or more doses of the HPV vaccine and 54.2% completed the HPV vaccination series in 2019, compared with 68.1% of teenagers who received one or more doses of HPV vaccine and 51.1% who completed the vaccine series in 2018. However, disparities in HPV vaccination rates remain, according to the agency.

Source: Healio

Vaccines given in last 20 years could prevent 50 million deaths

Jul 16 2021

New research, led by the Vaccine Impact Modelling Consortium, including researchers at Imperial College London, assessed the impact of vaccination activities against 10 infectious diseases across 112 countries.

Source: Medical Xpress

Colleges, universities with Covid vaccination mandates facing pushback

Jul 16 2021

Hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation are requiring students to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to campuses in the fall, but the mandates may be difficult to enforce fully. Some schools such as Princeton University are requiring students to be fully vaccinated by Aug. 1, but it's still unclear how others will manage vaccination and mask mandates — or what alternatives to on-campus learning may be offered to students who aren't inoculated against Covid-19.

Source: NBC

Why a famous anti-vaxxer saw the light — and got the COVID-19 vaccine

Jul 16 2021

Getting the COVID-19 shot is not a big deal for most, but for Heather Brooke Simpson, the experience exorcised the demons of her anti-vaccine past. “It was liberating to know I was doing my part to end the pandemic for good,” Simpson exclusively told The Post. The 30-year-old’s enthusiasm for the vaccine flies in the face of her old beliefs.

Source: NY Post

Homeopathic Doctor Is Charged With Selling Fake Covid-19 Vaccine Cards

Jul 16 2021

A homeopathic doctor in California is the first person to face federal charges for selling fake Covid-19 vaccination cards, the authorities said. The doctor, Juli A. Mazi of Napa, Calif., also sold Covid-19 “immunization pellets” to patients, federal prosecutors said. She was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters, according to a criminal complaint. Ms. Mazi faces up to 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the authorities said.

Source: NYT

Opinion: How the GOP crusade against vaccines could get even more dangerous

Jul 16 2021

Until recently, whenever someone wanted to assert that susceptibility to anti-science conspiracy theories was not solely the province of the right, an example they could cite was the sort-of left-leaning embrace of the anti-vaccine crusade. With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the most prominent opponent of vaccination, the picture many people had of a vaccine opponent was a liberal parent from Santa Monica fighting with their school district over whether to get their kids immunized.

Source: WP

Can vaccinated people get long Covid? Doctors say risk is 'very, very small'

Jul 16 2021

Coronavirus infections leading to long-haul Covid-19 in fully vaccinated people are probably very rare, experts say. The Covid-19 vaccines have been shown to significantly reduce infections, as well as the risk of severe consequences of the illness, including hospitalization and death. That means that if a fully vaccinated person does become infected, the illness is much more likely to be mild.

Source: NBC

Will an 18-year-old pop star convince young people that the COVID-19 vaccine is good 4 u?

Jul 16 2021

Young Americans are trying to return to the normalcy they’ve long yearned for since the pandemic started. And, well? Things are shaping up to be a little brutal out here. Americans between 12 and 29 are contracting COVID-19 at the highest rates while being the least protected — only 38 percent are vaccinated against the virus as of May 22, according to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention. The vaccine is now available in every state for people 12 and older, but Gen Z and younger millennials remain hesitant for various reasons, from not feeling any urgency to believing disinformation — messages that are sometimes spread by elected officials. The Tennessee Department of Health stopped all vaccination outreach efforts toward minors after pressure from Republican lawmakers in the state, according to records obtained by the Tennessean.

Source: PBS

Experts warn full Covid-19 vaccine approval is no quick fix for hesitancy

Jul 16 2021

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration issuing full approval for two Covid-19 vaccines might not be the game-changer it’s chalked up to be, according to a number of leading public health experts. Increasingly, some academics and physicians have pushed back on the popular narrative that the FDA is needlessly delaying full approvals for the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus shots — and spurring vaccine hesitancy by doing so. While full approvals might encourage a handful of Americans to finally get vaccinated, they argue, it’s more important for the agency to make clear that the eventual approvals are motivated by science and not by public pressure.

Source: Stat News

Vaccines will get full FDA approval, Fauci predicts

Jul 16 2021

Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the FDA giving Covid vaccines full approval is “only a technical issue” and that the hundreds of millions of people across the world who have been vaccinated serve as evidence that “the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccines are very high.” As of July 4, about 157 million Americans were fully vaccinated, almost half of the population. Many people are hesitant or have decided to wait to be vaccinated until the vaccines shift from being labeled “emergency use authorization” to “fully approved.”

Source: Politico