The anti-vaccine movement has never just been about alternative facts.

In 1896, the National Anti-Vaccination League printed postcards with rhetoric that reads like a modern social media post. Same tactics: emotional manipulation, conspiracy framing, and the exploitation of scientific uncertainty.

The playbook hasn’t changed, but the scale has. And the collapse of the institutions that used to buffer against it.

Robert Putnam talks about the quiet erosion of American civic life in Bowling Alone: fewer neighbors who know each other, fewer community organizations, less civic engagement. We’ve lost the connective tissue that once gave trusted information somewhere to land and a buffer against misleading claims.

Here’s what I keep coming back to: the anti-vaccination movement figured out something the health and science world keeps missing. People don’t just adopt a new set of facts. They accept an invitation to belong.

It doesn’t matter how good our evidence is.

Until we understand that, and start rebuilding communities that offer a sense of belonging, we’re going to keep losing ground on every new platform, in every new format, one postcard at a time.

New piece on Community Immunity: Evidence Needs a Community to Give It Weight

🔗 in comments

Measles didn’t come back because we forgot the science.

It came back because systems drifted.

When vaccination coverage drops—even slightly—the system changes.

Outbreaks don’t spread randomly. They cluster where gaps appear.

In this issue of Human Systems, I break down why measles is reappearing—and what it reveals about information, access, and trust.

🐄👨‍⚕️ Santé humaine et animale : comment faire face à la désinformation ?

De la pandémie de Covid-19 à la dermatose nodulaire, chaque crise sanitaire révèle les mêmes dérives : instrumentalisation des peurs, exploitation des vulnérabilités, remise en cause des repères scientifiques… jusqu’à fragiliser la confiance envers les institutions.

Médecins et vétérinaires sont en première ligne, confrontés à des dynamiques similaires.

Face à ce déferlement de fake news et à la viralité des contenus de désinformation, que peut la parole scientifique ?
 
Retrouvez l'entretien croisé entre le Dr Didier Spindler, vice-président du Cnom, et le Dr Jacques Guérin, président de l'Ordre national des vétérinaires ⬇

https://lnkd.in/eafu82RC

L'Académie nationale de médecine se prononce pour la troisième fois, après 2020 et 2023, en faveur de l'obligation vaccinale contre la grippe pour l'ensemble des soignants, alors que seuls 20% d'entre eux sont actuellement vaccinés. "Les recommandations vaccinales contre la grippe sont trop peu suivies par les soignants, alors que l'efficacité des vaccins est bien démontrée", indique le rapport. La rapporteuse, Christine Rouzioux, professeure de virologie, rappelle que les soignants "peuvent être à l'origine d'infections, parfois indépendamment de leur volonté, la grippe pouvant être asymptomatique". (Le Quotidien du Médecin)

Sandrine ORABI

What do we actually mean when we say "jab", "shot", or "side effects"? These everyday words might seem simple, but the way people use them online reveals a lot about how we perceive #vaccines, and could have real implications for public health communication.

Tomorrow, Zsófia Demjén (UCL) and Elena Semino (Lancaster University) will be sharing findings from the ESRC-funded Quo Vadis project, which used corpus linguistics to analyse millions of posts across Mumsnet, Reddit, Inc., and Twitter/xAI.

Among other things, they'll be exploring:
→ How "jab" and "shot" were used during #COVID19 to contrast different vaccines
→ Why the vague language around "side effects" may be fuelling individual anxieties
→ What all this means for the language we use in public health campaigns

Don't miss this new #HeRiCom network webinar, link in the comments 👇

NIHR School for Public Health Research Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health PHRESH Midlands School of Health Sciences, University of Birmingham
#PublicHealth #Vaccination #Linguistics #ScienceCommunication #HealthCommunication

Image credit: Google Gemini prompt: "gothic clay scene representing a discussion about "what might we mean when we say “Jab”, “Shot”, and “Side Effects” in relation to vaccinations? Informing public health information with evidence from peer-to-peer vaccination discussions"

Marisha Goldhamer writes for AFP fact check on how the uptick in US infant mortality was falsely linked to the Covid-19 vaccination, featuring Unbiased Science CEO Jess Steier. "The idea that the vaccines reshaped infant mortality is not supported by the data, which shows remarkable consistency across pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-vaccination windows." You can read the full article here https://lnkd.in/esaHyjei #VaccineMisinformation #InfantMortality #HealthCommunications

How can this be??? Why wasn't this story picked up by the media? Arguably, the most influential anti mRNA antivaxxer, allegedly the world's most knowledgable expert, is found by a court to lack his claimed qualifications and experience, abruptly resigns, and no one in the media even notices? Do you think this is newsworthy? See comments. | 28 comments on LinkedIn

https://lnkd.in/ebagnrCb
Vaccine package inserts can be unnecessarily frightening.

FDA ordered scientists to withdraw studies accepted by medical journals showing benefits to covid and shingles vaccines because they did not like the results.

Radical transparency in action:


"Officials at the Food and Drug Administration have blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles in recent months, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed.
The studies, which cost millions of dollars in public funds, were conducted by scientists at the agency, who worked with data firms to analyze millions of patient records. They found serious side effects to be very rare.
In October, the scientists were directed to withdraw two Covid-19 vaccine studies that had been accepted for publication in medical journals. In February, top F.D.A. officials did not sign off on submitting abstracts about studies of Shingrix, a shingles vaccine, to a major drug safety conference.
The withdrawal of the studies is the latest step by the administration to try to limit access to vaccines. It has sharply cut research funding for vaccine development, released unvetted information casting doubt on vaccines, and blocked other information supporting their safety, most recently a paper on Covid vaccine effectiveness by career scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
https://lnkd.in/gKReDzrT

As HHS leadership censors data that undercuts their narrative on the value of vaccines, the public does not support Sec. Kennedy’s vaccine agenda. Turns out when healthcare is unaffordable, the prospect of getting measles is decidedly less appealing.

In honor of everyone who works to make vaccines work, The Geneva Learning Foundation is pleased to share this article celebrating five years of visual storytelling by and for health workers.
https://dub.sh/S2fqwsN

In 2021, we asked immunization workers to share their challenges during World Immunization Week.

Not one photograph arrived.

The format was words only.

By 2024, more than three thousand photographs had come in from roughly sixty countries.

They were taken on phones in clinics, on motorbikes, in pirogues on the Congo River, in displacement camps, in cold rooms.

They were taken by women and men whose names rarely appear in donor reports.

The cameras were ordinary.

The decision to pick them up was not.

Gifty Akushadjibi, an interpreter for the deaf community in Ghana, described it as an act of seeing.

"You need to look at the photos. You can just analyze your work for the day, what went wrong, what must you do to help."

This is the story of a category error in global health: the assumption that the people closest to the work are the people who matter least to its narration.

Five years of World Immunization Week celebrations told us otherwise.

Ooops… the antivaxers are at it again!!

There’s a dangerous pattern playing out in real time: selective storytelling disguised as “new revelations.”

Recent headlines are circulating claiming that AstraZeneca has “admitted for the first time” in court that its COVID vaccine can cause blood clots.

Yes — court documents acknowledge a link to a condition (TTS).

Anyone posting or calling this out was ridiculed. Medical practitioners called scientists and other colleagues “antivaxers”!

But here’s what’s being left out but the vaccine extremists:

🔹 This risk was identified, studied, and publicly disclosed in 2021
🔹 It was added to regulatory guidance and product information years ago
🔹 Health authorities globally weighed the risk as very rare compared to the benefits during the pandemic.

All that was being said was the science was lacking. More testing needed to be done as harms were not known!

So what’s actually new?

👉 Not the science.
👉 Not the risk.
👉 Not the transparency.

What’s new is the framing and institutional drift.

When established facts are repackaged as shocking “first-time admissions,” it doesn’t inform the public — it misleads them.

And that has real consequences:
- It erodes trust in institutions
- It distorts informed consent
- It fuels division rather than understanding

We should absolutely scrutinize pharmaceutical companies and doctors who are heavily supported including regulators who are funded by the industry.

We should absolutely support those harmed and ensure accountability.

But we should also demand something equally important:

Accuracy. Context. Integrity in reporting.

Because without those, we’re not holding power to account —
we’re just amplifying noise.

#PublicHealth #MediaLiteracy #Misinformation #Accountability #COVID19| 13 commentaires sur LinkedIn

💉 Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy remain among the major challenges for public health in Europe and worldwide.

📚 I am therefore pleased to share this important event, which is part of the European Public Health Week 2026 programme and will focus on the presentation of two newly translated guides on vaccine-related events and vaccine communication.

🗣️ These resources aim to support effective, evidence-based scientific communication and help counter misinformation.

🇮🇹 The event will be held online and in Italian.

📍 More information about the event:
https://lnkd.in/dHiZPFTq

#EUPHW #PublicHealth #Vaccines #HealthCommunication #Misinformation #VaccineHesitancy #EUPHA

Daniel Fiacchini Francesco Baglivo Antonello Lupi Enrico Di Rosa EUPHA - European Public Health Association

Failure to investigate the obvious is destroying public trust in science.

#covid #medicine #research | 13 comments on LinkedIn

Can countries afford to delay investment in reaching zero-dose and under-immunized children? ⚖️

This analysis by UNICEF Europe & Central Asia and Triangulate Health Ltd suggests the cost of inaction is substantial.

Across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, maintaining current coverage levels could lead to over 800,000 preventable cases, around 1,500 deaths, and more than USD 3.4 billion in economic losses by 2035.

Key insights:
💰 For every $1 invested → up to $16–$70 in returns
💼 Most economic losses come from productivity impacts, not healthcare costs
⚙️ Delivery systems—not vaccine supply—are the main bottleneck
🚨 Under-immunization leads to avoidable outbreaks and broader system disruption

The economic burden of under-immunization is driven by unreached populations. Closing last-mile coverage gaps offers high returns and avoids substantial future costs.

👉 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eXwNReF5

Key contributors: Alexei Ceban, Alberto Musatti, Fatima Cengic, Federico Cairoli, Arnold Hagens, Deeksha Parashar, Zicheng Wang, Maria B.

RFK, Jr. is VERY WRONG about vaccines. If an effective vaccine is already in use, it is deeply unethical to test a new vaccine for the same disease against a placebo: it's a fundamental precept of Clinical Trials that patients must not be denied a treatment known to be beneficial. But the lack of placebo-controlled trials doesn't mean we don't have solid evidence that vaccines are safe and effective: we have enormous amounts of data on the benefits of vaccines.


https://lnkd.in/deDCi-E4

Quackery on the high seas: Hantavirus edition

Inspired by a cruise-ship outbreak, de-credentialed cardiologist Peter McCullough “published” a paper in his best friend’s journal: Science, Public Health Policy and the Law -impact factor matches the number of Oxford commas in its title: ZERO.

This “article” is an ad for McCullough’s box of supplements sold through a brand he part-owns, the Wellness Company. The publisher is a non-peer-reviewed, non-indexed sham owned by IPAK, an antivax foundation.

Take-home points:

🐁 Hantavirus is easy to catch in areas full of dried mouse waste, and hard to catch from other people.

☣️ The incidence of HV is rare, mostly confined to places people avoid. The case fatality rate is quite high: 35-75%. I have only seen it once in my career and it was shockingly lethal in a completely healthy 25 year old.

☠️ NOTHING in that kit treats or prevents HV. Emboldening the unwitting by implying that it does -is *deadly malpractice*.

💊 Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) has NO antiviral nor immune-modulating properties, but it *does* have abuse potential. Its inclusion in those kits makes me wonder if its purpose is to increase sales.

🍸 Flexeril *is* effective in treating the anxiety of having a kit that does nothing for a respiratory infection that slowly claims your lungs.

Sources in comments | 46 comments on LinkedIn

"Lawmakers including former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Patty Murray (D-Washington) asked in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio why the department has not used a total of $600 million approved in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The vaccine alliance “plays a critical role in averting the spread of preventable diseases around the globe, and helps protect public health in our country by stopping outbreaks before they reach our borders,” the bipartisan group wrote. Senators said Gavi has prevented 20.6 million deaths since its inception in 2000. Congressional support endures “because of its proven success as a public-private partnership,” the letter said.
The lawmakers said that the vaccine funding supports American jobs since the alliance buys more than $12.5 billion in U.S. goods and services."
https://lnkd.in/gQFQjsWB

What can happen when the vaccine procurement and supply chain breaks down?

Bangladesh is in the grip of an explosive measles epidemic, with more than 32,000 suspected cases and more than 250 deaths since mid-March, most of them young children

https://lnkd.in/eCYqa_s2

Kenya’s #Vaccine Future Is No Longer Donor-Driven, It’s Decision-Driven.

Gavi has provided #guidelines for the 6.0 strategy - a consolidated single envelope that caries the weight of #prioritization.

One thing stands out clearly:

👉 The question is no longer “How do we fund vaccines?”
👉 It is now “Which vaccines do we prioritize?”

Under the new Gavi model, Kenya is moving toward a single national vaccine budget (~$112M for 2026–2030) - combining both donor support and domestic financing.

At first glance, this looks like progress. More control. More ownership.

But look closer:

✅Core vaccines remain relatively protected through guaranteed co-financing
✅New and expanded vaccines? Increasingly self-financed
✅Gavi’s contribution to new vaccines is now minimal

This is the shift.

We are entering a phase where:
🔹 Every new vaccine introduction is a budget trade-off
🔹 Every scale-up decision is a policy choice, not a donor decision
🔹 Sustainability is no longer theoretical, it is immediate

And this raises critical questions for Kenya:

🇰🇪Can we sustain HPV scale-up while protecting routine immunization?
🇰🇪How do we prioritize within a fixed envelope?
🇰🇪Are our financing and procurement systems ready for full ownership?

Because by 2030, the transition will no longer be “upcoming”, it will be complete.

📊 This is more than a funding transition.
It is a governance and priority-setting transition.

For those of us working in #health #policy, #immunization, and health economics, this is where the real work begins.

#HealthPolicy #UHC #Immunization #Gavi #HealthEconomics #Kenya #GlobalHealth