Rather than turning away children whose parents refuse to have them vaccinated, pediatricians should engage the parents in discussion about the importance and safety of vaccination.
Because they treat many patients vulnerable to vaccine-preventable infections due to age-related declining immunity, chronic illnesses, or immunosuppressive treatments, medical residents are well placed to improve their patients' health by vaccinating them.
The Supreme Court's ruling in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth interpreted the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act to mean that vaccine manufacturers, unlike the manufacturers of other products, are not liable for injuries caused by defective designs.
Susanne Sheehy, BM BCh, MRCP, DTM&H and Joel Meyer, BM BCh, MRCP
The decline in numbers of healthy volunteers who participate in clinical trials has the potential to become a key rate-limiting factor in vaccine development.
Karlie A. Intlekofer, PhD, Michael J. Cunningham, MS, and Arthur L. Caplan, PhD
When public figures imperil the safety of the public with inaccurate claims that discourage vaccination, it is imperative that both organized medicine and individual physicians speak up.
Physicians, scientists, and public health officials are routinely on the defensive, refuting allegations of unconfirmed risks, justifying the value of vaccines, and striving to preserve public trust in vaccination overall.
Both public health agencies and vaccine companies have a stake in promulgating good information about vaccines: where the government sees gaps in immunization coverage, vaccine manufacturers see gaps in market coverage. Why shouldn't they work together to close them?
Concerns about the deleterious effects of stress on the mind and body have led to the beginnings of a stress vaccine, an injection that will reduce these effects.