Category: Vaccine

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biglaw firms across the country instituted vaccine mandates in an effort to protect the members of their workforce. Now, a former employee who was fired for refusing to be vaccinated has filed suit, claiming that the firm discriminated against her.

Denise Lemke, who once worked as a practice group assistant at Jenner & Block a firm that brought in $582,122,000 gross revenue in 2023, putting it at No. 86 in the Am Law 100 alleges that the firm should have granted her a religious exemption from vaccination. Law360 has the details:

Plaintiff contended, in her written request, that use of the vaccines was inconceivable to her in that abortion is murder. Taking any of the vaccines would therefore be a mortal sin in that it would require her to condone the killing of an unborn child, according to the suit.

The firm denied her accommodation request shortly after. Lemke claims Jenner granted similar requests for accommodation that were sought by men, and were sought by people younger than plaintiff (53 at the time of her termination).

Lemke claims she was fired on March 22, 2022, because Jenner denied her accommodation requests.

Although similar suits have been rejected by the courts, Lemke is moving forward with hers, alleging that Jenner discriminated against her based on her religion, sex, and age. She is seeking back and forward wages, punitive damages, costs, and attorney fees.

Jenner & Block Sued For Firing Worker Over Vax Refusal [Law360 (sub. req.)] Former BigLaw employee alleges she was wrongly fired for vaccine refusal [ABA Journal]

Staci Zaretskyis a senior editor at Above the Law, where shes worked since 2011. Shed love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Former Biglaw Employee Sues Firm After Being Fired For Refusal To Comply With Vaccine Mandate - Above the Law

New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States.

The HPV vaccine was developed to prevent cervical cancer in women and experts give it credit, along with screening, forlowering cervical cancer rates.Evidence that the shots are preventing HPV-related cancers in men has been slower to emerge, but the new research suggests vaccinated men have fewer cancers of themouth and throatcompared to those who didnt get the shots. These cancers are more than twice as common in men than in women.

For the study, researchers compared 3.4 million people of similar ages half vaccinated versus half unvaccinated in a large health care dataset.

As expected, vaccinated women had a lower risk of developing cervical cancer within at least five years of getting the shots. For men, there were benefits too. Vaccinated men had a lower risk of developing any HPV-related cancer, such as cancers of the anus, penis and mouth and throat.

These cancers take years to develop so the numbers were low: There were 57 HPV-related cancers among the unvaccinated men mostly head and neck cancers compared to 26 among the men who had the HPV vaccine.

We think the maximum benefit from the vaccine will actually happen in the next two or three decades, said study co-author Dr. Joseph Curry, a head and neck surgeon at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia. What were showing here is an early wave of effect.

Results of the study and a second were released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be discussed next month at its annual meeting in Chicago. The second study shows vaccination rates rising but males lag behind females in getting the HPV shots.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is very common and is spread through sex. Most HPV infections cause no symptoms and clear up without treatment. Others develop into cancer, about 37,000 cases a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the U.S., the HPV vaccine has been recommended since 2006 for girls at age 11 or 12, and since 2011 for boys the same age. Catch-up shots are recommended for anyone through age 26 who hasnt been vaccinated.

In the second study, researchers looked at self- and parent-reported HPV vaccination rates in preteens and young adults in a large government survey. From 2011 to 2020, vaccination rates rose from 38% to 49% among females, and among males from 8% to 36%.

HPV vaccine uptake among young males increased by more than fourfold over the last decade, though vaccination rates among young males still fall behind females, said study co-author Dr. Danh Nguyen at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Parents of boys, as well as girls, should know that HPV vaccines lower cancer risk, said Jasmin Tiro of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center who was not involved in the research. And young men who havent been vaccinated can still get the shots.

Its really important that teenagers get exposed to the vaccine before theyre exposed to the virus, she said.

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HPV vaccines prevent cancer in men as well as women, but fewer boys are getting the shots, new research suggests - Fortune

CHICAGO -- Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) reduced the risk of multiple types of cancer in both men and women, a large retrospective cohort study showed.

The risk of head and neck cancer and all HPV-associated cancers in men decreased by more than 50%. Consistent with previous reports, vaccination reduced the risk of cervical cancer by 29%, cervical cancer precursor lesions by 50-60%, and all HPV-related cancers in women by 27%. The risk of head and neck cancer in women decreased by 33%, but the difference compared with unvaccinated women did not reach statistical significance.

The data are among the first to show an association between HPV vaccination and a reduced risk of multiple types of cancer and reduced cancer risk in men, reported Jefferson DeKloe, BS, a medical student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and research fellow at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, during a press briefing ahead of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.

"The HPV vaccine is a safe and effective way to prevent infection," said DeKloe. "Our study showed that patients under the age of 40 who were vaccinated for HPV usually have lower rates of cancer that are typically caused by HPV, including oropharyngeal cancer and cervical cancer."

ASCO President Lynn Schuchter, MD, of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said the study provided important new information about the HPV vaccine's ability to protect against malignancies other than cervical cancer.

"We've known for a long time that having the HPV vaccine can prevent the development of HPV infection, yes, but importantly, cancer," said Schuchter. "We've known about it primarily from cervical cancer. This is a really important study that extends the information about the impact. It was expected that HPV vaccine would decrease the risk of cancer in other areas that are associated with HPV infection."

As the incidence of head and neck cancer (particularly oropharyngeal cancer) associated with smoking and alcohol has declined, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer has emerged as the primary disease type.

"This study really highlights the importance of getting the HPV vaccine," said Schuchter. "The goal is that younger girls and young boys get vaccinated to prevent development of HPV infection, and that should decrease the risk of cancer, which is what we've seen. This is really important information that continues to make the case for why we need boys and girls vaccinated against HPV."

The primary objective of the study was to gather more information about the relationship between HPV vaccination and subsequent risk of HPV-related cancers. Data for the analysis came from the TriNetX Network. The specific cancer sites of interest were head and neck, cervix, anus/anal canal, penis, vulva, and vagina. Additionally, women with no history of cervical dysplasia were followed for atypical cytology in Pap tests.

Vaccinated individuals were matched by propensity scoring to assemble a control population of unvaccinated men and women. Data analysis comprised 760,540 vaccinated men and 945,999 vaccinated women.

More than twice as many HPV-related cancers occurred in unvaccinated men (57 vs 26), which translated into a 54% reduction in the odds ratio (95% CI 0.29-0.72, P=0.0010). The data showed that 48 unvaccinated men developed head and neck cancer as compared with 21 in the vaccinated group, a 56% reduction in the odds ratio (95% CI 0.26-0.73, P=0.0016). Too few cases of anal and penile cancer occurred to permit a meaningful analysis.

Among unvaccinated women, 43 developed head and neck cancer versus 29 vaccinated women (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.42-1.1, P=0.10). Cervical cancer occurred in 70 vaccinated participants compared with 99 in the unvaccinated cohort (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.52-0.96, P=0.027). More vaccinated women developed vulvar/vaginal cancer (20 vs 12), but the difference was not statistically significant (OR 1.66, 95% CI 0.81-3.41). Vaccination was associated with an odds ratio of 0.73 for all HPV-related cancers (95% CI 0.57-0.94, P=0.013).

Analysis of cervical cytology showed no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated women with respect to atypical squamous cells of uncertain significance or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL). However, high-grade SIL, cervical carcinoma in situ, abnormal Pap findings, and conization/LEEP procedures all occurred significantly less often in vaccinated women (P<0.01 to P<0.001). Overall, HPV vaccination was associated with a 58% reduction in the odds ratio for all abnormalities found by Pap smear (95% CI 0.25-0.72).

Charles Bankhead is senior editor for oncology and also covers urology, dermatology, and ophthalmology. He joined MedPage Today in 2007. Follow

Disclosures

DeKloe reported no relevant financial disclosures.

A co-author disclosed relationships with Rakuten Medical and AstraZeneca.

Schuchter disclosed relationships with Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Incyte, and Merck.

Primary Source

American Society of Clinical Oncology

Source Reference: DeKloe J, et al "Effects of HPV vaccination on the development of HPV-related cancers: a retrospective analysis of a United States-based cohort" ASCO 2024; Abstract 10507.

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HPV Vaccination Reduces Risk of Multiple Types of Cancer in Men and Women - Medpage Today

Groundbreaking Access to Documents Show Pharma Giants Bullied South Africa in Covid-19 Vaccine Negotiations - HJI Report "The Negotiations, One Sided- Part 2" is now publicly available on the HJI website.

Today the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) released the second part of its analysis into the negotiation and procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by the South African Government. Like the previous report released in September 2023 on the contracts, HJI found in its analysis of the documents released to it in late 2023, per a High Court Order, that even the negotiations that were conducted in a global pandemic, heavily favoured multinational pharmaceutical corporations, over the public interest.

Supported by Public Citizen and others, HJI analysed the documentation relating to the negotiations with several companies and entities, and in particular, the negotiation documents with two companies: Moderna and Pfizer. In the end South Africa did not procure vaccines from Moderna but it is clear that it did enter into negotiations, and those negotiations were governed by a binding Confidential Disclosure Agreement.

These negotiation records and confidentiality disclosure agreements are what pharmaceutical companies did not want the public to see, worldwide, and it is now clear why. Unprecedented insight into their aims and tactics reveal a profit maximising strategy against a country struggling to keep people healthy, shielding itself from responsibility for any problems associated with deliveries and putting the burden of importing vaccines on the South African Government itself, among others.

Fatima Hassan, Director of HJI believes, "the analysis of the negotiation documents, similar to the previous report into the contracts, reveals a pattern of bullying and attempts to extract one sided terms, especially by pharma giants Moderna and Pfizer all while they profiteered from a global health emergency. It is inconceivable that companies, their lawyers and CEOs exercised so much power, forcing countries into concessions, when we were most in need for supplies. Additionally, attempts by these companies to extract monopolistic and high prices for life saving vaccines are documented, and now clear for all to see -this must have a bearing on current efforts underway in Geneva to negotiation a global Pandemic Accord - the absurd power that CEOs have in health emergencies must be addressed, with urgency and resolutely".

"What these documents make clear is that corporations can and will exploit the conditions of public health emergencies to coerce governments, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries, into accepting unreasonable agreements on the supply of life-saving medicines.

International efforts to address future global health emergencies, like the Pandemic Accord, must include robust provisions and safeguards to rein in these corporate interests and ensure the rapid, equitable supply of vital countermeasures for everyone," says Jishian Ravinthiran, Researcher with Public Citizen.

The negotiation documents and HJI's analysis thereof shows that Moderna took the most aggressive approach to shield any of its vaccine supply from public accountability. It also demanded:

This, in part, probably explains why South Africa did not, in the end, obtain supplies from Moderna. On Pfizer, the negotiating documents also show South African officials did try to highlight the one- sided nature of the negotiations and include provisions to mitigate the unfettered power and control Pfizer sought to exercise over the supply agreement, but that was largely unsuccessful in the end. Government officials marked up draft supply agreements with multiple comments including: "We need to be able to disclose and be accountable...".

Pfizer's universal rejection of proposed amendments is a prime example of concentrated corporate power overriding public interests. It should be frightening to everybody that a private company can bully a country this way. "Private companies being able to operate in the shadows is not good for anyone other than the companies themselves, especially under the soon to be implemented NHI in South Africa"- said Hassan.

Pfizer rejected provisions that would have permitted disclosure of confidential information in emergency circumstances and for bolstering transparency and trust in the vaccination programme. This is despite efforts by South African government officials to revise the ironclad confidentiality restrictions by referencing the World Health Assembly's (WHA) resolution about transparency of markets for medicines, vaccines, and other health products. Additionally, government officials warned that these provisions may hamper oversight from lawmakers and the South African office of the Auditor General.

"The totality of the agreements signed and the negotiation records show that these companies shamelessly wanted secrecy, and no transparency and that they profiteered at the public's expense during the pandemic," says Hassan.

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The report concludes that contractual bullying by monopolistic pharma corporations undermined South Africa's vaccination programme to the detriment of its people. It calls for mandating transparency around procuring lifesaving vaccines and medicines using public funds in any health emergency and especially under the soon to be implemented NHI system, where the state will be responsible for the procurement of all approved NHI medical supplies.

However, HJI believes that making public the contracts and negotiations sets an important legal precedent that publicly funded medical supplies cannot be contractually buried in corporate secrecy during health crises.

"People's lives must come before pharma secrecy and profiteering," Hassan says. "This conduct was unethical; it went against our Constitution and cannot be allowed in future health emergencies nor under the NHI in South Africa."

All negotiating documents handed over by the State; and HJI's analysis thereof can be found here.

Media Queries

For media queries and interview requests contact [email protected]

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South Africa: SA Covid-19 Vaccine Negotiation Records Show Pharma Bullying Amidst Pandemic - AllAfrica - Top Africa News

The HPV vaccine is linked to a drastic reduction in head and neck cancers in adolescent boys and men, new research finds.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a sexually transmitted infection responsible for virtually all cases of cervical cancer. But the virus is also linked to a number of other cancers, including penile, anal and vaginal cancers.

It also accounts for the majority up to 70% of head and neck cancers, which affect the throat and mouth. Men are about twice as likely to develop these cancers than women, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The HPV vaccine, initially approved for adolescent girls, protects against strains of the virus linked to cervical cancer and has been found to significantly reduce rates of the cancer. But theres growing evidence that the vaccine also protects against other HPV-related cancers.

We want males to be thinking about HPV vaccination not just as something that protects female patients, but also male patients, said Jefferson DeKloe, a research fellow in the department of otolaryngologyat Thomas Jefferson University, who specializes in head and neck surgery and who co-authored the research.

The findings will be presented next week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference and have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Prior research showed a downward trend in oral infections with HPV strains known to cause cancer. That was a promising sign, said Dr. GlennJ. Hanna, a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institutes Center for Head and Neck Oncology, who was not involved in the new research.

If we can lower the infection rate, we would hope that we would see what we are seeing now, a decline in cancer rates, Hanna said. This is an important evolution of the story.

The new study analyzed health records from a national database that included nearly 3.5 million people in the United States ages 9 to 39 who had received any vaccination HPV or otherwise from 2010 through 2023. About 1.5 million were male, half of whom had been vaccinated against cancer-causing strains of HPV. Nearly 1 million were females who had been vaccinated against HPV.

The researchers compared the rates of HPV-linked cancers including head and neck, anal, penile, and cervical cancers in people who had received the HPV vaccine to those who hadnt. They found being vaccinated reduced the overall risk of HPV-related cancers in males by 54%, a decrease driven primarily by a drop in head and neck cancers. Females were about 30% less likely to develop any type of HPV-related cancer, including cervical cancer.

Most cases of head and neck cancer are in people older than 50. Since the U.S. is only about a decade into widespread HPV vaccination in both males and females, the vaccinated generation hasnt reached this age yet. HPV typically infects younger people and takes decades for chronic infection to lead to cancer.

These are the early results of a larger phenomenon we are going to watch play out over the next 20 or 30 years, DeKloe said, noting that experts dont expect to see the full effect HPV vaccination has on cancer rates until the largely vaccinated generation is older.

A second study, which will also be presented at the ASCO conference next week and is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, found that HPV vaccination rates have been on the rise in the U.S. from 2011 through early 2020, including in all racial and ethnic groups.

HPV vaccination wasnt recommended for males until 2011, five years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the vaccine series for girls. The HPV vaccine is now recommended for all adolescents starting as young as age 9, but can also be given to adults up to age 45.

In the new study, which included children and young adults ages 9 to 26, the increase was largely driven by growing HPV vaccine uptake among males. Although overall HPV vaccination rates among males still lag behind females about 36% compared to about 50% of those in the 9 to 26 age group these rates are accelerating.

The gap is narrowing between males and females and eventually I would hope that they would meet up, said Dr. Danh Nguyen, a resident physician at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the research.

Although vaccination efforts have focused on adolescents, adults should also consider getting vaccinated if they werent when they were younger, said Dr. Nancy Lee, service chief of head and neck radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, who was not involved with either study.

If you are in your 20s or 30s, you can still get the vaccination. Even if you are 45, there is no reason you cannot get vaccinated because we have a population that lives a long time, Lee said.

Nguyen said its important that conversations about HPV vaccination continue to focus on the prevention of all cancers, including head and neck cancers that are more prevalent in men, rather than solely on cervical cancer prevention.

Hanna said stigma around HPV being a sexually transmitted infection has made discussions around vaccinating adolescents a sticky subject in the past, but that clear data showing the impact vaccination rates have on HPV-related cancers is shifting the narrative.

HPV vaccination is cancer prevention, Hanna said. The bottom line is that we are preventing cancers broadly by getting people vaccinated younger.

Kaitlin Sullivan

Kaitlin Sullivan is a contributor for NBCNews.com who has worked with NBC News Investigations.She reports on health, science and the environment andis a graduate of theCraig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York.

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The HPV vaccine prevents head and neck cancers in men, study suggests - NBC News

Content From: HIV.govPublished : May 24, 20243 min read Topics CDCCenters for Disease Control & Preventionmpox

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC has released the results of studies highlighting the protection offered by the two-dose JYNNEOS mpox vaccine; the importanceof completing the two-dose vaccination series for persons at risk for mpox exposure, who have not previously recovered from mpox(including certain gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men); and importance of ongoing U.S. preparedness in light of increasing mpox clade I cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Read the study summaries below.

Two JYNNEOS vaccine doses prevent mpox; however, infection in fully vaccinated persons can occur.

Monkeypox virus infection after receipt of 2 JYNNEOS doses is estimated to have occurred in <1% of fully vaccinated persons and comprises a small proportion of national cases. Among persons who experienced infection after having received a complete 2-dose series and for whom complete data were available, infections have been milder than those among unvaccinated persons. Disparate time intervals from vaccination to infection among fully vaccinated persons suggest that immunity is not waning.

To optimize protection, persons recommended to receive mpox vaccination should complete the 2-dose JYNNEOS vaccination series. No additional vaccine doses are recommended at this time.

Since the global mpox outbreak began in 2022, mpox cases have continued to occur in the United States.

After the peak of the 2022 mpox outbreak, when approximately 3,000 cases per week were reported, cases declined sharply and remain significantly lower (approximately 59 reported cases per week during October 1, 2023April 30, 2024). Most new mpox cases occur in unvaccinated persons.

CDC recommends that persons at risk for mpox exposure, who have not previously recovered from mpox (including certain gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men) complete the 2-dose JYNNEOS vaccination series.

Compared with clade II monkeypox virus (MPXV), which caused the 2022 global mpox outbreak, clade I MPXV can result in more persons with severe illness and higher mortality.

The increasing number of reported suspected clade I mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) poses a global threat for potential spread. No clade I cases have been reported in countries without endemic transmission. CDC is supporting DRCs response and containment efforts and ensuring U.S. preparedness by increasing awareness and surveillance, expanding clade I diagnostic testing capacity, and communicating guidance.

U.S. clinicians and public health practitioners should be alert for possible cases in travelers from DRC and request clade-specific testing. Appropriate medical treatment is critical given the potential for severe illness, and contact tracing and containment strategies, including isolation, behavior modification and vaccination, will be important to prevent spread if any U.S. clade I mpox cases occur.

For more information on mpox, visit CDCs page on mpox.

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CDC MMWR Articles: Mpox Vaccine Effectiveness & Ongoing Importance of Two-Dose Vaccine - HIV.gov

UNICEF delivered over 43000 doses of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine by air to Bangui, Central African Republic, today, with more than 120000 doses to follow in the next days. It is the first country to receive the R21 malaria vaccine for use in routine childhood immunization, marking another step forward in preventing the disease and saving childrens lives.

R21 is the second malaria vaccine to be recommended by WHO for children living in endemic areas. Along with the earlier WHO recommendation of the RTS,S vaccine, there is now sufficient vaccine supply to scale up malaria vaccination in Africa. The rollout of both vaccines is funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

With two products now available to countries, expanded supply of malaria vaccines is a game changer for child survival and health, said Director of UNICEF Supply Division Leila Pakkala. Previous concerns about supply meeting demand are firmly behind us. Now our priority is for the vaccines to reach every child at risk.

The R21 and RTS,S vaccines are proven safe and effective in preventing malaria in children. The RTS,S vaccine was delivered to more than 2million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi in a four-year pilot programme that demonstrated a 13% reduction in all-cause mortality.

Malaria is one of the worlds most lethal diseases, killing nearly half a million children under 5 years of age each year in Africa.

The Central African Republic has one of the highest rates of malaria incidence globally. In 2022, an estimated 1733000 malariacases were reported in the country, averaging about 4747 cases a day. The disease also claimedaround 5180 lives over the year, or 14 deaths each day.

Having two safe and effective vaccines means we have greater supply security and can be more confident about meeting countries needs, said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. That is what matters most that countries where our vaccines can be most impactful are able to access them, saving thousands of lives each year and offering relief to families, communities and entire health systems.

Central African Republic, along with Chad, Cote dIvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Uganda, are preparing to receive R21 shipments.

Around 4.33million doses of RTS,S have been delivered to 8 countries so far Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone that are offering the vaccine in their routine child immunization programmes as part of national malaria control plans. Burundi and Niger are next on the list for RTS,S shipments.

Vaccine deliveries to countries that are funded through the Vaccine Alliance depend on government requests and readiness to include the vaccine in routine immunization programmes.

Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, and partners are supporting governments as they prepare to receive and introduce the vaccines. This involves supporting countries to develop vaccine implementation plans and communication strategies, conducting health worker trainings and community engagement, and ensuring sufficient cold chain capacity.

Malaria vaccines, introduced as part of the tools available in comprehensive national malaria control plans, will substantially reduce early childhood deaths and can help revitalize the fight against malaria. With the R21 vaccine now joining RTS,S vaccine for use in country immunization programmes, scale up of malaria vaccine across parts of Africa, where malaria remains a major cause of childhood death will continue. The high community demand for malaria vaccines also provides an opportunity for children to receive other childhood vaccines that may be due, resulting in even more lives saved, said Dr Kate OBrien, Director of WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.

Malaria vaccines are an important addition to the fight against the disease. Careful planning is essential to ensure the successful introduction of the malaria vaccines and to combine them with other interventions including insecticide-treated bed nets or targeted indoor residual spraying, chemoprevention, diagnosis and prompt treatments to maximize the impact on public health.

#####

Notes to editors:

Download photos and videos here (content will be added post-shipment arrival).

Follow this link for the UNICEF vaccine market dashboard, which provides the latest market developments, including deliveries and a global overview of prices.

For more information, please contact:

Sara Alhattab, UNICEF New York, Tel: +1 917 957 6536, salhattab@unicef.org

Meghana Sharafudeen, Gavi, Tel: +41 79 711 55 54, msharafudeen@gavi.org

Matt Grek, Gavi, mgrek@gavi.org

WHO Press Office, mediainquiries@who.int

About UNICEF UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

For more information about UNICEF and its work, visit: http://www.unicef.org

Follow UNICEF onTwitter,Facebook,InstagramandYouTube

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the worlds children against some of the worlds deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunize a whole generation over 1 billion children and prevented more than 17.3 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology from drones to biometrics to save lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency.

Learn more at http://www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and X (Twitter).

About WHO

Dedicated to the health and well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere, an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the UN agency for health that connects nations, partners and people on the front lines in 150+ locations leading the worlds response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. http://www.who.int

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Shipment of newest malaria vaccine, R21, to Central African Republic marks latest milestone for child survival - World Health Organization (WHO)

WISCONSIN (WQOW) - The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) updated its immunization requirements for children in child care centers and schools Monday.

According to a press release from the DHS, meningitis vaccination is now required. Another change is that a chickenpox infection must be documented by a qualified medical professional.

"For decades, both varicella (chicken pox) and meningitis vaccines have been recommended as safe and effective for children by medical experts, and this update to our state requirements improves how we can protect children as well as their entire schools and communities from these vaccine-preventable illnesses," said DHS Secretary-designee Kirsten Johnson. "When parents make the choice to keep their child up to date on vaccinations, it not only protects their own child, but also protects other children, their families, and the people who live and work in our schools and communities."

No changes were made to existing exemption options for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons.

Vaccination rates in schools has dropped in Wisconsin. This school year, 89.2% of school-age students met the minimum immunization requirements. That's down 0.7% from the previous school year.

"Every day in schools and child care centers across the state kids are playing, learning together, and growing togetherjust as they should. This also creates a higher chance for illnesses to spread. Vaccines safeguard each child who is vaccinated - and the more children who are vaccinated, the more protected an entire school and community is," said State Health Officer Paula Tran. "To keep kids healthy and fully participating in school activities and after school events, DHS encourages parents and caregivers to talk to their pediatricians and make sure their children are up to date on immunizations."

DHS will now work with child care centers and schools to support implementation of these updated requirements.

These changes were initially effective in Wisconsin on February 1, 2023. However, they were paused in March 2023 when some of the requirements were suspended by the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. That suspension expired on April 15, 2024, making these school and child care immunization requirements now fully in effect.

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Meningitis vaccination now required for children in schools and daycares under updated DHS requirements - WQOW TV News 18

Covid-19 may not be raging any more, but a controversy over the AstraZeneca vaccine, sold as Covishield in India is. The issue first erupted when AstraZeneca, in a submission to a court in the UK, acknowledged that its vaccine could cause a rare, potentially life-threatening condition, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS. This led to everything from outrage on social media, to political parties issuing statements and to a host of misinformation being circulated. What is significant is that this information about TTS is not new it was established as early as in 2021, when Indias vaccination programme was underway, and it has been a known fact now for well over three years. Just a short time after the court submission made headlines, AstraZeneca also announced the worldwide withdrawal of its vaccine, citing a decline in the demand. As of this year, India has administered over 1.5 billion doses of Covishield to its eligible population.

What led to the furore over the vaccines rare side effect and what do we know about it? How robust is Indias system to monitor adverse events arising from vaccinations? And what happens to Indias vaccination programme if Covishield is no longer available are there other options available for those who need them or for future immunisations?

Guest: Dr Anurag Agrawal, Dean, BioSciences and Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

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What's behind the furore over the AstraZeneca vaccine | In Focus podcast - The Hindu

Dr. Allie Alvine went to Pierre in 2020 with a concern and came home with a mission.

At the state Capitol, she testified against a bill that would have repealed the immunization requirements that apply to most school children.

I saw the anti-vaxxers there, and they were a large group, she said.

Lawmakers rejected the bill, but Alvine, of Sioux Falls, feared the anti-vaccine movement was growing.

I had to get more involved, she said. I had to create a presence at our state Capitol in Pierre to counter their presence, to be the pro-vaccine voice.

Last year, she founded South Dakota Families for Vaccines, a state-level arm of the national Science and Families Engaged (SAFE) Communities Coalition.

As director of the state-level group, Alvines work includes talking to legislators and the public about the importance of vaccines, updating supporters about relevant legislation, and publishing local-level vaccination data and voter guides.

Those and other efforts earned Alvine the Excellence in Immunization Advocacy Award at the National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships last month in Philadelphia. Another South Dakotan, Andrea Polkinghorn, received the Excellence in Immunization Collaboration Award for her work as president of Immunize South Dakota.

The two groups work together in the state. While South Dakota Families for Vaccines works at the grassroots level to influence policy, Immunize South Dakota works at the grass tops to raise immunization rates, Alvine said.

Alvine brings medical knowledge to her job: She went to medical school in Kansas and completed a psychiatry residency through the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. She now uses her medical education exclusively for advocacy.

Following are portions of South Dakota Searchlights recent interview with Alvine, edited for length and clarity.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks its joints, and its very painful and destroys joints. So the goal is to treat the disease and save the joints as much as possible, but the medications decrease your immune system.

So part of what I did in the Arthritis Foundation was promote vaccinations, because that population has a lot of patients on immune-compromising medications, and it makes you much more vulnerable to all diseases, and these people depend on their communities being vaccinated creating a community of immunity to protect them from these awful diseases, and especially the vaccine-preventable diseases. So that kind of started my journey in vaccine advocacy.

I knew some people were hesitant and thats absolutely OK to be hesitant and to ask questions, and to talk to your doctor or experts or our organization about vaccines. But back then I was not aware of the anti-vaccine movement as much. I knew they were out there, but they were kind of not on my radar back then.

They came on my radar while I was a member, through the Arthritis Foundation, of Immunize South Dakota. And they asked me to testify in 2020 on the bill that was brought forth in the state House of Representatives that would have gotten rid of school vaccinations, which would be horribly detrimental and dangerous and a disaster for our state. So I agreed to go testify as an M.D. and as a parent of an immunocompromised child.

During the pandemic, I was thinking, OK, we all went through such a hard time with masks, social distancing, schooling our children at home, work changes and isolation. It was really hard. I thought and a lot of vaccine advocates thought that with the rolling out of the vaccine, which was the only thing that was going to get us out of the pandemic and make life normal again, that maybe the anti-vaccine sentiment would die down.

But that was exactly opposite of what happened. The vaccine hesitancy increased, and the sharing of misinformation about the COVID vaccine, and people got more vaccine hesitant, and their feelings about the COVID vaccine started trickling down to childhood vaccines, and were seeing our rates drop across the country.

So what had happened was the SAFE Communities Coalition started in 2020 to counter the spread of vaccine misinformation and support pro-vaccine legislation. Immunize South Dakota talked with SAFE Communities, and they approached me to take on this role as director of South Dakota Families for Vaccines, and SAFE now has 11 states covered.

Its truly a group effort. I work together with all the other directors in other states, and SAFE supports our work. And I also work a lot with other organizations and partners in our state and nationally.

People say, Well, 93%, thats huge. The problem is that very small drops in rates have big effects on vaccine-preventable diseases. So where we want to be is 95%, and that has dropped. We were there, but that has dropped since 2020 to 93%, and thats all because vaccine misinformation is shared so rampantly.

Social media and the internet are great, but information is shared so fast, and a lot of people dont know whats a good source for medical information. TikTok is not a good source for this information. And people share things on Facebook and even websites, and they look professional and they look scientific, but you need to look at resources for the studies that they did, and who paid for it, and how many were in the study, and whether its been reproduced. Its hard for people to figure out whats good information, and a lot of the stuff that the anti-vaxxers are posting is really scary.

We always say now that vaccines are a victim of their own success. Older people in our communities can tell you about multiple family members that died of measles, and they remember polio and people living in iron lungs and dying, and multiple other vaccine-preventable diseases that have just ravaged peoples lives, but we dont see that anymore because of vaccines.

And so some people think that those diseases are just gone, and theyre not. If we get below 95%, measles is the first one that rears its head, because its so contagious. And were seeing that in areas of the country that have lower vaccine rates. Its expected. And if you drop any lower, other horrible diseases will start rearing their heads. And unlike what a lot of anti-vax people say, these diseases are not benign. Youre much safer to get the vaccine as opposed to getting any of these diseases.

We have lots of trainings. We have ways people can get involved and learn about how to do it. But the main goal is to keep the door open to conversation, and to be calm and not argumentative, because people just go into their corners when you argue. And to listen to their concerns. Ask them, what have you heard? What are you worried about? Then ask if you can give them the information that you have about vaccines.

Thats kind of the gist, because arguing doesnt do anything. And just reiterate that its fine to have questions. And then just talk about how vaccines have such a long history. The first smallpox vaccine was over 200 years ago. We have decades and decades of research that have proven that vaccines are well studied and extremely safe.

We need to have people in our health care communities stand up, now more than ever. Its so important to use their voice in this way, and a lot of people do. We have a lot of other medical professionals that do, but we need more nurses, all medical professionals. We work with a lot of pharmacists, too. Public health experts are in the mix, too. It takes a group effort.

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Q&A: How an anti-vaccine bill motivated a South Dakotan's award-winning response South Dakota Searchlight - South Dakota Searchlight