Why are we still talking about autism and vaccines? (And why is DeNiro asking us to?)

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This blog post originally appeared on From the Square – The NYU Press Blog April 27, 2016.

By Jennifer Reich

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Actor Robert DeNiro hand-picked the documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe to show at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which he founded. The film, which has since been removed after widespread criticism, explores well-traveled terrain. At the center (according to promotional materials) are perennial claims that vaccines cause autism. More specifically, the movie focuses on a 2004 study published in the well-respected journal Pediatrics in which researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) argue there is no causal link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The filmmakers revisit a controversial claim by one of the authors: data showed that for a subset of African American boys vaccinated before the age of three years, the risk of autism increased with on-time vaccination and the CDC threw those data out.

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Every Child’s Life is Precious

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By Felisa Hilbert

During World Immunization Week (April 24-30) organizations around the world raise their voices to educate, promote and increase the rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Why? Because every child’s life is precious. Yet in developing countries around the world, a child dies every 20 seconds from diseases that can be easily prevented with a vaccine. When you think that every 20 seconds a child dies (which equals 3 children per minute), 180 will die in an hour and 4,320 children will die in a day. Can you imagine 1,440 children dying during your shift of 8 hours at work? I know for many of us here in United States this seems astonishing and incredible, but this is a reality for many mothers and children in developing countries. [Read more…]

Closing the Immunization Gap: It’s Time to Reach the Fifth Child

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By Jordan Savold, communications and research fellow at the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition and United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life Champion

World Immunization Week is held each year during the last week of April to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.

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Photo: United Nations Foundation, Shot@Life

Did you know that one in five children worldwide lacks access to important, life-saving vaccines?

This means that around the world, every 20 seconds a child will die from a vaccine preventable disease. The number of children dying every year from preventable diseases in developing countries is equivalent to nearly half the children entering kindergarten in the U.S.

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CHICOS: Combatting HPV Infection & Cancer

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By Amanda Dempsey, MD, PhD, MPH, and Jenna E. Reno, PhD

In honor of Cervical Health Awareness Month, we’ve asked Amanda Dempsey, MD, PhD, MPH, and Jenna Reno, PhD, of The Adult and Child Consortium for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS) at the University of Colorado to fill us in on their current project working to increase HPV vaccination rates among male and female adolescents and young adults. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year, over 27,000 women and men are affected by a cancer caused by HPV [human papillomavirus] — that’s a new case every 20 minutes. HPV can lead to cancers of the cervix, vagina, penis, anus, tonsils, and throat. While there is no cure for HPV, the HPV vaccine works almost 100% of the time at preventing the most common HPVs from causing disease. Despite this fact, HPV vaccination rates among adolescents and young adults (those most susceptible to infection) in the U.S. remain low.

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A Few Pages from the Life Notes of Amy Purdy at S.O.U.P!

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By Jordan Savold, CCIC Communications and Research Fellow

To kick off the 8th annual S.O.U.P! (Shots Offer Unrivaled Protection) fundraiser for the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition (CCIC), Amy Purdy posed an intriguing question:

“If your life was a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go?”

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Shots for Tots and Teens in Aurora Gets Families Ready for a Healthy School Year

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By Jordan Savold, Communications and Research Fellow at the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition

If you happen to drive by Fire Station #2 in Aurora on a certain Saturday of the month, you might see a long line of families extending from the entry way. Once a month, immunizations are provided at little to no cost at this fire station through Shots for Tots and Teens program to help ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live a safe, healthy life free from vaccine-preventable disease.

On a recent Saturday, I had the privilege of attending the event myself. Here’s what happened.
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Stand Up for Healthier College Students

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The CDC Should Add the Meningitis B Vaccine to the List of Recommended Vaccines

By Chloe Mugg, communications intern for Healthier Colorado

This post originally appeared on Healthier Colorado’s blog June 5, 2015.

Chloe MuggWhen people think about vaccinations, they picture kids in a doctor’s office  getting routine chickenpox, measles or tetanus shots. The kids kick and scream, but they get a Hello Kitty Band-Aid stamped over their child’s arm upon conclusion. But this isn’t the whole picture. College students like me, who are susceptible to meningitis B, need vaccines too.

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Surviving Hib Meningitis: An Interview with My Mother

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By Elizabeth Abbott

Just over 30 years ago, at 15 months of age, I was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis as a result of Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) infection. The vaccine that protects against Hib had not yet been introduced. At that time, Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis among children under five years of age in the U.S. Each year, about 20,000 children under five years got severe Hib disease, and about 1,000 died. As many as 1 out of 5 children survivors of Hib meningitis end up with brain damage or become deaf.

Since vaccine introduction in the late 1980s, the number of cases of invasive Hib disease has decreased by more than 99 percent. By 2012, less than 50 U.S. cases of Hib disease occurred each year in children under five, and most cases we see today are the result of parents choosing not to vaccinate. While some parents may believe their child is not at risk of rare Hib infection, the bacteria still exists and can cause severe harm through the diseases it causes.

In honor of World Meningitis Day (April 24) and National Infant Immunization Week (April 18-25), I sat down with my beautiful mother to remember the “traumatic experience” she faced as her child overcame this life-threatening illness. [Read more…]

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