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News Article
RFK Jr. names new slate of vaccine advisers after purging CDC panel
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unveiled eight people he has chosen to serve on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel – just two days after taking the unprecedented step of removing all 17 sitting members. On Wednesday, Kennedy listed the names and short bios of the new advisers who will join the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, at its upcoming meeting in late June. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," Kennedy said in a post on X, "They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations." The new members are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Cody Meissner, Dr. Michael A. Ross, Dr. James Pagano and Vicky Pebsworth. "This is a huge win for the medical freedom [m]ovement," David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services in the first Trump administration, wrote in a post on X, "they did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees." Public health advocates are wary. "Kennedy did not pick people with strong, current expertise in vaccines," says Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Law, San Francisco, who studies vaccine policy. "It tells me that Kennedy is setting up a committee that would be skeptical of vaccines, and possibly willing to implement an anti-vaccine agenda." Read full story Source: NPR, 11 June 2025 -
News Article
USA: RFK Jr removes entire panel of CDC’s vaccine experts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed all members of a vaccine advisory board to restore "public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda,” he announced in a Monday op-ed. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published late Monday afternoon that America is facing a “crisis of public trust…toward health agencies, pharmaceutical companies or vaccines themselves.” To restore what Kennedy sees as Americans' distrust in the healthcare system and ensure that they receive “the safest vaccines possible,” the secretary announced that HHS will retire all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. The committee is responsible for evaluating the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines and then presenting its findings to the Centers for Disease Control. “The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” Kennedy claimed in the op-ed. The current members will be replaced with new members “currently under consideration,” HHS said in a statement. “The new members won’t directly work for the vaccine industry. They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry—unafraid to ask hard questions,” Kennedy wrote in the Journal. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 June 2025 -
News ArticleAny cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make Britain less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned. Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not yet set out its future funding for Gavi, a Geneva-based public-private organisation that has vaccinated more than a billion children in developing countries. The UK has previously been one of Gavi’s main funders, providing more than £2bn over the last four years. But with the UK aid budget cut back from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% and the focus shifting towards bilateral aid the expectation is that there will be a major reduction at Wednesday’s spending review. Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that as well as continuing to save lives in poorer countries, there was a self-interested case for continuing with similar levels of support. “It’s a safer place, obviously, for people who are in situations where they wouldn’t have been able to access these vaccines without the government support, but it also makes it a safe place for us, because it’s acting as part of the shield that we have against the spread of infectious diseases around the world,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2025
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News ArticleAs the Trump administration contemplates new clinical trials for Covid boosters and moves to restrict Covid vaccines for children and others, parents whose children participated in the clinical trials expressed anger and dismay. “It’s really devastating to see this evidence base officially ignored and discarded,” said Sophia Bessias, a parent in North Carolina whose two- and four-year-old kids were part of the Pfizer paediatric vaccine trial. “As a parent and also a paediatrician, I think it’s devastating that we might no longer have the option to protect kids against Covid,” said Katherine Matthias, a paediatrician in South Carolina and a cofounder of Protect Their Future, a children’s health organization. Robert F Kennedy Jr, head of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has called for new trials using saline placebos for each of the routine childhood vaccines recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even though these vaccines have already been tested against placebos or against vaccines that were themselves tested against placebos. Marty Makary, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s vaccines chief, outlined a plan in a recent editorial to restrict Covid boosters for anyone under the age of 65 without certain health conditions. For everyone else between the ages of six months and 64 years old, each updated Covid vaccine would need to undergo another randomized controlled clinical trial, Makary and Prasad said. It’s not clear when, how or whether this plan will be implemented officially. On Tuesday, top US health officials said on the social media site X that they would remove the recommendation for Covid vaccination from the childhood immunization schedule, and would also cease recommending it for pregnant people, who have much higher risks of illness, death and pregnancy complications with Covid. On Friday, the CDC appeared to contradict that announcement by keeping Covid vaccines as a routine immunization for children – though the agency now says health providers “may” recommend the vaccine, instead of saying they “should” recommend it. Changing recommendations could affect doctors’ and parents’ understanding of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2025
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News Article
FDA says it will limit access to Covid-19 boosters for Americans under 65
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday that it will limit access to seasonal Covid-19 boosters for healthy Americans under 65 without clear evidence of clinical benefit – a shift, critics say, that will make access difficult for people who are not high risk but want to be vaccinated against the disease. Top officials at the FDA outlined a new framework for approving Covid-19 vaccines, saying that the US would make the boosters available for Americans over the age of 65 and for adults and children above the age of 6 months with at least one condition that increases their risk of severe Covid-19. The newly installed FDA commissioner Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, the controversial director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, laid out the new guidelines in a commentary piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They wrote that manufacturers would have to conduct randomized, controlled clinical trials before updated vaccines would receive approval for healthier people. Elsewhere in the piece, the officials argued that the US is an outlier among countries in Europe and other high-income countries where Covid-19 boosters are recommended only for older adults and people at high risk. They estimate that more than 100 million Americans will still qualify for the annual shots under the new terms. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 May 2025 -
News Article
‘World-first’ gonorrhoea vaccine to be rolled out in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A vaccine for gonorrhoea will be rolled out in England as part of a world-first programme, officials have announced. The move, hailed as a “landmark moment for sexual health”, will aim to tackle rising levels of the sexually transmitted infection (STI). Gonorrhoea cases in England topped 85,000 in 2023, the highest since records began in 1918, with warnings over some strains being resistant to antibiotics. The vaccine is an existing jab, known as 4CMenB, that is used against the meningococcal B disease, a serious bacterial infection that can cause meningitis and sepsis. It is used in the routine childhood programme and given to babies at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year. Dr Amanda Doyle, the national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, said: “The launch of a world-first routine vaccination for gonorrhoea is a huge step forward for sexual health and will be crucial in protecting individuals, helping to prevent the spread of infection and reduce the rising rates of antibiotic resistance strains of the bacteria.” Eligible patients will be identified and contacted in the coming weeks, with the jab offered through local authority-commissioned sexual health services from 1 August. At the appointment patients will also be offered jabs for mpox, human papillomavirus (HPV), and hepatitis A and B. Doyle added: “NHS teams across the country are now working hard to plan the rollout and ensure we hit the ground running, while the routine mpox vaccination programme builds on the vital progress the NHS has made in recent months in reaching as many eligible people as possible.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 May 2025 -
News ArticleAt least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018. That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 paediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season. The high number of paediatric fatalities reported for the past flu season comes as health authorities in New York said that 25 children in the state had succumbed to influenza-associated paediatric deaths – the highest recorded amount ever in New York. “As we begin to analyze the data from the 2024-2025 influenza season, we see this flu season was a challenging flu season for all, yet particularly for children,” said New York state’s health commissioner, Dr James McDonald. The health commissioner warned that “misinformation around vaccines has in recent years contributed to a rise in vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates”. Of the 25 pediatric deaths attributed to flu, only one involved a vaccinated child and five were below six-month age minimum to receive the flu vaccine. “We live in a challenging time, where honest objective information is sometimes blurred by misinformation – therefore, it remains the department’s goal to continue to provide as much education and information as possible about flu and other vaccines that remain our best protection against many viruses and preventable diseases,” McDonald said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 May 2025
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News ArticleHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his department have made a series of misleading statements that alarmed vaccine experts and advocates in recent days – including that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine includes “aborted fetus debris”. Health department officials released statements saying they could alter vaccine testing and build new “surveillance systems” on Wednesday, both of which have unnerved experts who view new placebo testing as potentially unethical. “It’s his goal to even further lessen trust in vaccines and make it onerous enough for manufacturers that they will abandon it,” said Dr Paul Offit, an expert on infectious disease and immunology and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, about the statements and Kennedy. “It’s a fragile market.” “All new vaccines will undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials prior to licensure – a radical departure from past practices,” an HHS spokesperson told the Washington Post in response to questions about general vaccine policy and the measles vaccine. The department did not clarify what it meant by “new vaccine”. The department spokesperson also described new surveillance systems for vaccines, “that will accurately measure vaccine risks as well as benefits – because real science demands both transparency and accountability”, but did not elaborate on the design of those systems. Prior to being confirmed to the role of health secretary, Kennedy was arguably the nation’s most prominent anti-vaccine advocate and led a non-profit known for prolific misinformation. He also earned money by referring clients to law firms suing vaccine makers. Among the claims Kennedy spread was that medications cause “autoimmune injuries and allergic injuries and neurodevelopmental injuries that have long diagnostic horizons or long incubation periods, so you can do the study and you will not see the injury for five years”, he said in an interview in 2021, according to reporting by the Post. Kennedy also claimed this week that the MMR vaccine includes “aborted fetus debris”. The rubella vaccine, like many vaccines, is produced using decades-old sterile fetal cell lines derived from two elective terminations in the 1960s. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 May 2025
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News Article
Global study on Covid vaccine safety falls victim to Trump cuts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The largest ever global study into the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has been terminated just 13 months shy of completion, after becoming caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts. The Global Vaccine Data Network, which was established in 2019 by the New Zealand-based vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris and the US-based vaccinologist Steven Black, has already produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety, based on data from more than 300 million people. The University of Auckland hosts the network, which collaborates with institutions and experts across the globe. The groundbreaking five-year project to evaluate the safety of Covid vaccines across hundreds of millions of people received more than NZ$10m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021, but after a recent funding review by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), it can no longer finish the project, Petousis-Harris said. The network looks at data from millions of people to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, analyse risk and benefits and respond to issues such as vaccine hesitancy. To do this requires “enormous study power, enormous populations and diversity”, said Petousis-Harris, who is an associate professor at the University of Auckland. But funding for the global Covid vaccine safety project was “suddenly cut … without warning, without planning”, she told the Guardian. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025 -
Content Article
WHO: Vaccines explained (April 2025)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Infectious diseases
"Vaccines Explained" is a series of illustrated articles from the World Health Organization that describe how vaccines work, how they’re developed and distributed and how their safety is carefully monitored. Check the links below to learn more. How do vaccines work? What's in a vaccine? How are vaccines developed and produced? Ensuring vaccine safety Vaccine efficacy, effectiveness and protection How to talk about vaccines -
News Article
US exceeds 700 measles cases as officials struggle to contain outbreaks
Mark Hughes posted a news article in News
The US reached a grim milestone Friday surpassing 700 confirmed measles cases in 2025, according to figures posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty-two percent of cases occurred in patients under 5 while 38% were reported in those between 5 and 19, according to the agency. As of Friday, the CDC reported 79 hospitalisations, including 45 patients who were under 5. Most measles cases, 97%, occurred in unvaccinated patients or whose vaccination status is unknown. Read full story Source: USA Today News, 14 April 2025 -
News Article
Melanoma patients in England get fast-track access to cancer vaccine
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients with an advanced type of skin melanoma in England will be given fast-track access to a “revolutionary” new cancer vaccine as part of an NHS trial. The vaccine, known as iSCIB1+ (ImmunoBody), helps the immune system recognise cancer cells and therefore better respond to immunotherapy treatment. The trial is part of the expansion of NHS England’s Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP), a programme to fast-track eligible patients to studies developing vaccines at their nearest participating hospital. The CVLP has already helped thousands of NHS patients access trials of a personalised vaccine against bowel cancer, with more than 350 people fast-tracked for consideration, and has now expanded to include a trial for melanoma. It aims to provide 10,000 patients in England with personalised cancer treatments in the UK by 2030. Prof Peter Johnson, the NHS national cancer director, said: “Skin cancer can have a devastating impact and we know that cancer vaccines have the potential to revolutionise cancer care for patients in this country and across the world – and to save more lives. “It’s incredibly exciting that the NHS is expanding its world-leading programme so more patients with different types of cancer could benefit from the development of new vaccines that could stop their cancer coming back. “We want to ensure as many eligible NHS patients as possible have access to these vital trials, which is why we are working with a range of industry partners as more studies get up and running to ensure patients are fast-tracked to a vaccine that could transform lives.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 April 2025 -
News Article
Second child dies of measles as Texas outbreak worsens
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A second child has died from measles as an outbreak of the highly contagious virus continues to grow in western Texas. The school-aged child was not vaccinated, had no underlying health conditions and was in hospital suffering complications from measles, Aaron Davis, the vice-president of UMC Health System, told the BBC. US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has faced a backlash over his handling of the outbreak, visited Texas on Sunday in the wake of the death, which is the third overall in recent weeks. The southern US state has reported more than 480 cases of measles so far this year as of Friday, a jump from 420 earlier in the week. The outbreak has extended to neighbouring states. Across the whole of the US, more than 600 cases of measles have been recorded so far this year, more than double the 285 cases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded last year. In 2019, there were a total of 1,274 measles cases recorded across the US, but prior to that there had not been a larger outbreak than this year's since the early 1990s, according to the CDC. Many of this year's cases - nearly all in unvaccinated people - are related to the outbreak that began in western Texas. "This unfortunate event underscores the importance of vaccination," Mr Davis said in a statement. "Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious complications, particularly for those who are unvaccinated." Read full story Read full story: BBC News, 6 April 2025 -
News Article
USA: NIH sued over ‘ideological purge’ of DEI, Covid and vaccine research
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A group of public health experts and major labor organizations are suing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over what they call an “ongoing ideological purge” of scientific research. In a legal complaint filed on Wednesday, the American Public Health Association; the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW); and other health experts say the NIH has abruptly canceled hundreds of grants since February 2025. The complaint says the cuts have targeted research tied to topics like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender identity, vaccine hesitancy and even work involving collaborators in other countries. These cancellations, they argue, provide a “window into the devastation to medical and scientific research playing out across the nation right now”. The lawsuit claims that NIH broke from its usual science-based review process and started shutting down projects based on “vague” new priorities. It alleges that the organization often justified cancellations by saying the research “no longer effectuates agency priorities”. Researchers affected by the cuts include those studying Alzheimer’s disease, pregnancy health disparities and HIV prevention. “Ending these NIH grants wastes taxpayer money and years of hard work to answer the world’s most pressing biomedical questions. This is an attack on scientific progress itself,” Brittany Charlton, a plaintiff and associate professor at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement. “Important discoveries and treatments will be delayed, putting lives at risk. Health issues in one community affect everyone, so this concerns us all,” Charlton added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 April 2025 -
News ArticleTens of thousands of doctors across India are being trained to promote the HPV vaccine, in a push to eliminate cervical cancer in the country. They will check with mothers attending medical appointments that they intend to vaccinate their daughters, and visit schools and community centres armed with facts and slideshows to counter vaccine disinformation. One in five cervical cancer cases worldwide occur in India – and the overwhelming majority of those are caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. HPV vaccination has become routine practice in many countries and has been available in India privately since 2008, but with low take-up. Sutapa Biswas, co-founder of the Cancer Foundation of India, said imported vaccines were expensive and people were reluctant to spend money on prevention. Misinformation surrounding deaths during, but unrelated to, an HPV vaccine trial in the country had left it with “baggage”, she said. However, India has recently started manufacturing its own cervical cancer vaccine, and the government is expected to make it part of the national vaccination programme later this year or early next year. Last year about 11,000 members of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (Fogsi) underwent virtual training. About 100 of those trainees have now become the National HPV Faculty and will each train 500 general physicians from the Indian Medical Association over the next six months. The idea, Biswas said, “is to build confidence”. Training includes practical information on dosages, details of the World Health Organization’s push to eliminate cervical cancer, and advice on how to answer common questions. The implementation of India’s cervical screening programme had been sluggish, she said. Most cancers are diagnosed late, and most people’s experiences of the disease relate to death. Many non-specialist doctors “didn’t even know that a cancer could be eliminated and vaccination could be such a gamechanger”, Biswas said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2025
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News Article
USA: HPV-linked cancer is becoming common in one group
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Cancer caused by the common human papillomavirus infection, also known as HPV, is increasing in some women in the U.S., researchers said this month. They found that rates of cervical cancer — which is one of the most preventable cancers and largely caused by HPV infection — have been rising among women in their 30s and 40s: many of whom weren’t eligible for HPV vaccines when they were first released in 2006. Approximately 42.5 million Americans are infected with HPV and there are at least 13 million new infections reported each year. The vaccines, which protect individuals from getting several cancers associated with different strains of America’s most common sexually transmitted infection, were originally only recommended for girls and women between the ages of nine and 26. Since then, eligibility has expanded to include individuals between the ages of 27 and 45. It is now recommended for routine vaccination starting at age 11 or 12. Although vaccination has proven to be both safe and effective, vaccine hesitancy and resistance has persisted. In recent years, it has been tied to social media. A December study from USC found that Americans are under-vaccinated for HPV, with 7% of eligible adults completing the full course. Screening is also an issue tied to the American Cancer Society study’s findings, with the percentage of women falling from 47% in 2019 to 41% in 2023. Women between the ages of 21 and 29 are the least likely to be up to date with their screenings, previous research found. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 March 2025 -
News Article
More US states report measles cases amid vaccine misinformation
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More US states are reporting measles cases as the Texas outbreak expands, surpassing last year’s total, amid vaccine misinformation and hesitancy. The Texas outbreak could take a year to get under control, one health official said – during which time it may spread to more states. “I never thought in 2025, we would be looking at this resurgence of measles,” said Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock Public Health. “And I didn’t know it’d be in my backyard, either.” On Thursday, several other states reported updates on measles. Ohio reported its first case of 2025 and Maryland announced two new cases. Both states have linked the cases to international travel. Alabama also announced that an unvaccinated child with measles travelled through the state, while Kansas has confirmed eight cases of measles among children this month. Health departments in cities like Lubbock, where the hospitalised children with measles are being treated, have created mass vaccination clinics where anyone can get the MMR vaccine free of charge. “We’re trying to remove every single barrier to get vaccinated,” Wells says. “And then we’re working more with messaging from trusted leaders about the importance of vaccination.” But so far, the Lubbock clinic has only given out about 300 more vaccines than they usually would over the past few weeks. Without widespread vaccination, the outbreak could continue for another year, she says. Other recent outbreaks have been in densely populated areas, but these cases are spread over 11 counties in Texas, plus New Mexico and Oklahoma. “We have a large, spread-out population where we’re going to keep seeing measles pop up,” Wells says. “It’s going to take a lot of time to change the perception of vaccines, get people vaccinated, and then get to a point where there won’t be any vulnerable people left for measles to find.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 March 2025 -
News Article
Cost containment, reorganised budgets: How WHO is adapting to US funding cuts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
At a press conference on Monday, WHO officials laid out the many ways countries around the world are being impacted in real-time by the US withdrawal of crucial humanitarian aid funds. The impacts are being felt on the heels of the Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of USAID, a key agency that oversees humanitarian, development and security programs in some 120 countries. Global health experts say that USAID has practiced a form of soft power around the world. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would not comment on Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the WHO. Instead, he focused on the “serious disruptions” being caused by cuts through USAID. “In many countries, the abrupt loss of U.S. funding threatens to reverse progress,” Tedros said, on many issues from immunisations to maternal health to emergency preparedness. For instance, the USA has been the largest contributor to the fight against malaria over the past two decades, Tedros said. If cuts continue, there could be an additional 15 million cases of malaria and 107,000 deaths in 2025. A similar story is happening with HIV, he said: suspension of U.S. funding could lead to an additional 10 million cases of HIV and 3 million unnecessary deaths. Gains made in tuberculosis, immunisations and polio are similarly at risk. “It’s within its rights to decide what it supports and to what extent, but the US also has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it’s done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources if funding. We ask the US to reconsider its support for global health,” Tedros said. Read full story Source: Fierce Healthcare, 17 March 2025 -
News ArticleA global threat in the form of a measles outbreak is mounting as more than 22 million infants missed their first vaccine dose for the disease in 2020, warned the world’s top health agencies. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC), in a joint statement on Wednesday, said the number represents the largest increase in missed vaccinations in two decades. The 22-million figure is three million more than in 2019, “creating dangerous conditions for outbreaks to occur,” according to the agencies. The surveillance of measles cases deteriorated because of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in a reported dip in cases by more than 80%t in 2020, the statement said. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses to date. It kills more than 60,000 people a year, mostly young children. But at the same time, the disease is entirely preventable through vaccinations, which have averted more than 30 million deaths from the disease globally. “Large numbers of unvaccinated children, outbreaks of measles, and disease detection and diagnostics diverted to support Covid-19 responses are factors that increase the likelihood of measles-related deaths and serious complications in children,” said Kevin Cain, the CDC’s global immunisation director. Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 November 2021
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News Article
Rise in UK measles cases causing concern
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A "very concerning" rise in the number of people catching measles in the UK has been reported by health officials. There were 54 cases of measles in the whole of last year. However, there have already been 49 in the first four months of 2023. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is encouraging parents to ensure their children's vaccinations are up to date. The main symptoms of measles are a fever and a rash. But it can cause more serious complications including meningitis, and an infection can be fatal. Vaccination rates had been falling in the UK before the Covid pandemic. However, the disruption caused by Covid has dented vaccination programmes around the world, including in the UK, meaning even more children have missed out. The World Health Organization has already warned of a "perfect storm" for measles, because the fewer people who receive protection from vaccines, the easier it is for outbreaks to happen. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 May 2023 -
News Article
Thousands of children at risk as vaccination rates fall in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of children face an increased risk of catching deadly diseases in England, and significant outbreaks are likely, child health experts have warned, as “alarming” figures show vaccination levels have plunged across virtually all jabs. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging parents and guardians to ensure their children have received the routine jabs against potentially serious diseases, such as polio and measles, after official data revealed a drop in vaccination rates. NHS Digital data published Thursday showed vaccine coverage fell in 13 out of the 14 routine programmes for children up to five years old in England in 2021-22, compared with the year before. “Today’s publication of the childhood vaccination statistics in England is extremely worrying,” said Dr Doug Brown, the chief executive of the British Society for Immunology. “Immediate action to reverse this alarming multi-year downward trend and protect our communities from preventable diseases is urgently needed.” Helen Bedford, a professor of child public health at UCL’s Institute of Child Health, said the country was now facing “the concerning double whammy of many children being unprotected and the inevitability of disease rates increasing”. “In this situation, as night follows day, significant outbreaks of disease are likely. Measles disease is a particular concern as it is so highly infectious that any small decline in vaccine uptake results in outbreaks. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2022 -
News Article
Measles now an 'imminent' global threat due to pandemic, say WHO and CDC
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There is now an "imminent threat" of measles spreading in every region of the world, the World Health Organisation and the US public health agency has said. In a joint report, the health organisations said there had been a fall in vaccines against measles and less surveillance of the disease during the COVID pandemic. Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses but is almost entirely preventable through vaccination, though it requires 95% vaccine coverage to prevent outbreaks. A record high of nearly 40 million children missed a dose last year because of hurdles created by the pandemic, according to the report by the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This has left millions of children susceptible to the disease. "We are at a crossroads," Patrick O'Connor, the WHO's measles lead, said. "It is going to be a very challenging 12-24 months trying to mitigate this." Read full story Source: Sky News, 24 November 2022 -
News Article
Pandemic disrupted routine vaccinations of US kindergarteners
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Yet another hidden cost of Covid-19 was revealed on Thursday as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented new data showing how the pandemic has dramatically impeded the US effort to vaccinate kids for other diseases. According to the CDC’s report, national vaccine coverage among American children in kindergarten dropped from 95% to below 94% in the past year – which may seem like a small amount but meant 350,000 fewer children were vaccinated against common diseases. “Overall, today’s findings support previous data showing a concerning decline in childhood immunizations that began in March 2020,” Shannon Stokley, the CDC’s immunization services deputy division director, said in a press conference on Thursday. Some of the reasons for the lower vaccination rates included reluctance to schedule appointments, reduced access to them, so-called “provisional” school enrollment, the easing of vaccination requirements for remote learners, fewer parents submitting documents and less time for school nurses to follow up with unvaccinated students. States and schools also told the CDC that there were fewer staff members to assess kindergarten vaccination coverage, and a lower response rate from schools, both due to Covid-19. “The CDC provides vaccines for nearly half of America’s children through the Vaccines for Children program,” Stokley said. “And over the last two years, orders for distribution of routine vaccines are down more than 10% compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are concerned that missed routine vaccinations could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough which are extremely dangerous and can be very serious, especially for babies and young children.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 April 2022 -
News Article
World faces ‘perfect storm’ for measles outbreak affecting children, WHO warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A spike in the number of measles cases around the world has sparked concerns over the potential for serious outbreaks this year. Almost 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of last year – which represents a rise of 79%. Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that there is a “perfect storm” for serious outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles. As of this month, the agencies report 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. The five countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia. The coronavirus pandemic has seen much of health funding and resources diverted to deal with the spread of the virus since 2020. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019. These pandemic-related disruptions – as well as increasing inequalities in access to vaccines – has left many children without protection against contagious diseases while Covid restrictions are eased in most countries, the two organisations said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 April 2022 -
News Article
Rubella warning to pregnant women amid MMR jab decline
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Diminishing rates of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) jabs have prompted a Royal College warning over the risks to pregnant women, as the NHS raises concerns over London “lagging” behind the national uptake. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s immunisations lead, Dr Helen Bradford, said the falling uptake of the MMR vaccine could present a serious risk to pregnant women and their unborn children. The warning comes as London health authorities are planning a major summer drive to improve uptake in the capital, The Independent has learned. Documents seen by The Independent setting out NHS plans for a summer MMR campaign put the focus on social media, including approaching “influencers” to spread messages. The plans also rely on free publicity, with proposals to approach broadcast media. Risks to increasing uptake, according to the document, included anti-vaxx sentiment towards MMR, apathy towards the vaccine, controversy meaning influencers won’t work with the NHS, and a lack of internal data. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 June 2022
