In this clip from the Dengue Academy Masterclass 2025, Heidi Larson discusses key findings from a research study on attitudes towards Dengue vaccination.

Visit dengueacademy.com to watch the full video and learn more about Dengue (Intended for an international audience of healthcare professionals outside the US and UK).

#dengue #denguefever #dengueacademy

Amidst intensifying public health threats, polarisation and global instability, the idea of an infodemic emerged as a way to express growing unease around information flows.

But, as we argue in our new commentary, this framing risks obscuring a deeper issue: the erosion of trust itself.

The key arguments proposed with Julie Leask AO, Luisa Enria & Nadine Beckmann, are that:
ℹ️ information threats are a symptom of eroded trust, not the root cause
🛠️ rebuilding trust through transparency, accountability and meaningful community engagement is more effective than managing information flows alone
💉 vaccine confidence offers a lens through which to understand how trust, not just information, shapes public health decision-making

These dynamics have global implications, from Guinea to Brazil to the United States, and challenge us to rethink how public health policy is developed, communicated and received.

Have a read ⬇️ ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dBpAs6PJ

Did you know? The risk of severe outcomes from polio—like paralysis or death—has been shown to increase in individuals who had their tonsils removed or didn’t rest properly after becoming ill.

It’s a reminder that context matters when evaluating disease risk and outcomes.

Learn more about polio and the factors that influence severity: picdata.org/polio-dis

#vaccines

Not sure what Joe’s agenda is about.. | 137 comments on LinkedIn

"On Monday, one day before that hearing, the Annals of Internal Medicine published the results of an absolutely massive study finding that there is absolutely no link between the aluminum used in vaccines to boost the immune response and autism. Or asthma. Or 48 other possible conditions, including ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders, allergies, and immune disorders.

Aluminum has been enemy number one for anti-vaxxers in recent years, and has been described by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as “extremely neurotoxic,” with no evidence whatsoever. In another interview, he claimed it was the reason for the rise in allergies. “You wonder why a whole generation of children is allergic to stuff … It’s because we’re inducing allergies, pumping them full of aluminum”.

Previously, it was thimerosal, a preservative that also did not cause autism, but was removed from the vast majority of childhood vaccines (and was never in the MMR vaccine, period) in 2001 as a precautionary measure, despite there being no actual evidence of harm. Actually, it sometimes still is thimerosal, because many of these people don’t even realize that it was removed 20 years ago in the first place.

While the study is unlikely to convince anyone who is determined to believe that vaccines cause autism, it is remarkably comprehensive. It was conducted over the course of 23 years and included more than 1.2 million Danish people — which we must point out is slightly more than the 12 (yes, 12) children that Andrew Wakefield studied for his thoroughly discredited study meant to prove that vaccines cause autism."

The Department of Justice decided not to continue to act against a fraudster who lied to teens.

"The federal government on Saturday dismissed charges against a Utah plastic surgeon accused of throwing away COVID-19 vaccines, giving children saline shots instead of the vaccine and selling faked vaccination cards.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social media platform X that charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, of Midvale, Utah, were dismissed at her direction.

Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the government; conspiracy to convert, sell, convey and dispose of government property; and aiding and abetting in those efforts. The charges were brought when Joe Biden was president."
https://lnkd.in/gMh2F5qD

Did the CDC have hidden evidence that the hepatitis B vaccine increased the risk of autism? Or is this just more anti-vaccine propaganda?

𝐊𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐮𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭é𝐠𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 à 𝐥𝐚 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐧é𝐞.

Pour un suivi plus fiable et plus rapide, Askaan déploie KoboCollect sur le terrain. Cette application mobile open source révolutionne la collecte de données, même sans connexion.

Grâce à cet outil, la collecte digitale va bien au-delà des chiffres : elle révèle les connaissances, attitudes et pratiques des populations, offrant une compréhension précise des réalités locales. Ces informations essentielles permettent la conception de programmes de santé plus adaptés, plus pertinents et donc plus efficaces.

Des données plus justes, une action plus efficace.

#kobocollect #vaccination

Before the development of the polio vaccine, the world witnessed the devastating effects of the polio pandemic, especially on children. Polio, a viral disease, often led to paralysis of the respiratory muscles, making it extremely difficult for affected children to breathe. For many, the disease was a death sentence, as their weakened lungs were unable to function on their own. The introduction of artificial breathing machines, known as "Iron Lungs," provided a lifeline to those who were unable to breathe unaided, giving them a chance to survive. The Iron Lung was a large, mechanical respirator that helped children breathe by creating a vacuum around their body, forcing air into their lungs and allowing them to inhale and exhale. Though it was an incredible technological breakthrough, children often had to spend months confined within these machines, which were not only physically restrictive but also emotionally taxing. The machine would provide life-saving support until the child's respiratory muscles regained enough strength to function independently. Despite the crucial role of the Iron Lung in saving lives, the survival rate was still low, and many children who were treated with this device did not survive. The machines, though revolutionary at the time, couldn't guarantee recovery, and the physical and emotional toll of long-term confinement was immense. It wasn’t until the development of the polio vaccine that the world could begin to effectively combat the disease, ultimately putting an end to the suffering caused by polio and reducing the need for these life-saving, but often ineffective, machines.

Vaccination : a state of the situation. Are we doing well ? We must do better…
Estimates of current vaccine coverage and forecasts to 2030 suggest that achieving IA2030 targets, such as halving zero-dose children compared with 2019 levels and reaching 90% global coverage for life-course vaccines DTP3, PCV3, and MCV2, will require accelerated progress. Substantial increases in coverage are necessary in many countries and territories, with those in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia facing the greatest challenges. Recent declines will need to be reversed to restore previous coverage levels in Latin America and the Caribbean, especially for DTP1, DTP3, and Pol3. These findings underscore the crucial need for targeted, equitable immunisation strategies. Strengthening primary health-care systems, addressing vaccine misinformation and hesitancy, and adapting to local contexts are essential to advancing coverage. COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts, such as WHO's Big Catch-Up, as well as efforts to bolster routine services must prioritise reaching marginalised populations and target subnational geographies to regain lost ground and achieve global immunisation goals.

To quote the late Charles Bukowski:
The problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence!

Grateful for the Boston Globe's Editorial Board prioritizing children's health over political divides and for including my voice in this critical conversation:
https://lnkd.in/gxhEGMiq

"For vaccine opponents, the injury data provides damning evidence that vaccines are dangerously imperfect. For the rest of us, the tiny number should be reassuring. As consumers of health information, we are too often led by a focus on side effects that blinds us to the really important numbers—the number of people who didn’t get sick because they were vaccinated, the number of people who never got sick enough to need medical help, the number of people who didn’t have to go to the hospital, the people who didn’t end up in the intensive care unit or the morgue, all thanks to vaccines.

Once a vaccine opponent becomes convinced that vaccines contain health-threatening substances, they then tout Macfadden’s second claim: vaccines are not needed by anyone who follows good health practices. As Macfadden argued in 1902, “smallpox is only possible to those who clothe heavily, bathe infrequently, and exercise rarely.” In 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. similarly explained, “The path to recovering the robust health Americans enjoyed a couple of generations ago does not lie in more medicine. It is food, a non-toxic environment, and lifestyle.” True, healthy living promotes health. Equally true, healthy living does not prevent all chronic and acute illnesses. Two things can be true at once.". See comments...

Why would a PhD be vaccine hesitant?


Well, if you regularly read my posts, one thing should be obvious



It's not always about the vaccines themselves



It's more often a framework of issues - psychological factors, culture, personal experience, among many others. That becomes more and more apparent the more and more you research the topic, the more stories you read, and the more people you talk to.



Now it's never good to think in absolutes, and this topic is no exception.



So, no, not all PhDs are vaccine hesitant/antivaccine. Nobody is that unidimensional


Also, to that point, there is a significant variation in vaccine acceptance across different fields and disciplines.


I discuss further in my article on why PhDs might be vaccine hesitant

https://lnkd.in/eP74v9MT

| 13 comments on LinkedIn

✊✊✊ !!! | 20 comments on LinkedIn

CNN has published an excellent and thorough article reporting on exactly the concern that I and others have been raising with colleagues and professionals in the field for some time, that efforts are underway to undermine the effectiveness of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). Such efforts would bring back the chaos that President Ronald Reagan ended by signing the NVICP into law in 1986.

The NVICP provides an initial shield from liability for vaccine manufacturers and for doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals who administer vaccines. In exchange, individuals who experience the very rare occurrence of serious adverse reactions to vaccines are given a much faster and easier route to obtain compensation for the injury.

As it happens, this article quotes two of my most esteemed colleagues in the field, Dorit Reiss and Renee Gentry -- both of whom are on the conference committee for the 2025 National Vaccine Law Conference (NVLC). Coming September 11 and 12 by virtual presentation, the NVLC is the forum where this and like matters will be discussed by some of our most expert voices in the field.

Registration for the NVLC is now open at https://lnkd.in/gYPpcFFi

The CNN article can be found at https://lnkd.in/eC9ubNiQ

Arguments contre l'obligation vaccinale contre la grippe pour les soignants

Le 11 juillet, un projet de loi a été déposé rétablissant l’obligation de vaccination contre la grippe pour les professionnels de santé et permettant son remboursement pour tous les assurés sociaux (à titre expérimental dans trois régions). 
https://lnkd.in/gky3dmNj
Rappelons que le vaccin grippe augmente le risque d'être infecté par le virus chez les professionnels de santé (Effectiveness of the Influenza Vaccine During the 2024-2025 Respiratory Viral Season, Nabin K. Shrestha, Patrick C. Burke, Amy S. Nowacki, Steven M. Gordon
medRxiv 2025.01.30.25321421; https://lnkd.in/g_wA3XbW)
et
Skowronski DM, De Serres G, Crowcroft NS, Janjua NZ, Boulianne N, Hottes TS, Rosella LC, Dickinson JA, Gilca R, Sethi P, Ouhoummane N, Willison DJ, Rouleau I, Petric M, Fonseca K, Drews SJ, Rebbapragada A, Charest H, Hamelin ME, Boivin G, Gardy JL, Li Y, Kwindt TL, Patrick DM, Brunham RC; Canadian SAVOIR Team. Association between the 2008-09 seasonal influenza vaccine and pandemic H1N1 illness during Spring-Summer 2009: four observational studies from Canada. PLoS Med. 2010 Apr 6;7(4):e1000258. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000258. PMID: 20386731; PMCID: PMC2850386. https://lnkd.in/gmSw3nQx

Selon une revue de la Cochrane de 2005, proposer la vaccination antigrippale aux personnes travaillant dans des établissements de soins aurait peu ou pas de différence sur le nombre de résidents qui contractent la grippe ou qui vont à l'hôpital pour une infection pulmonaire, par rapport à ceux vivant dans des établissements de soins où aucune vaccination n'est proposée.
Thomas RE, Jefferson T, Lasserson TJ, Earnshaw S. Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers who care for people aged 60 or older living in long-term care institutions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2025, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD005187. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005187.pub6
https://lnkd.in/gBdsT-ag
Les personnes vaccinées contre la grippe excrètent 6 fois plus de virus lorsqu'elles sont infectées et sont donc plus susceptibles de contaminer les autres que si elles étaient non-vaccinées.
Yan J, Grantham M, Pantelic J, Bueno de Mesquita PJ, Albert B, Liu F, Ehrman S, Milton DK; EMIT Consortium. Infectious virus in exhaled breath of symptomatic seasonal influenza cases from a college community. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jan 30;115(5):1081-1086. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1716561115. Epub 2018 Jan 18. PMID: 29348203; PMCID: PMC5798362. https://lnkd.in/gzhUW4BT

"No one could have foreseen these attacks on science and medicine. There were no warnings, and no one sounded the alarm bell."

Jonathan Howard, MD
Dr. Jonathan Howard is a neurologist and psychiatrist who has been interested in vaccines since long before COVID-19. He is the author of "We Want Them Infected: How the failed quest for herd immunity led doctors to embrace the anti-vaccine movement and blinded Americans to the threat of COVID."

Meanwhile, LinkedIn / LinkedIn Help permits conspiratorial pro-spread of contagion science denying anti-vaccine activists such as Peter A McCullough aka
McCullough Foundation , Physicians for Informed Consent , Vejon Health Ltd aka
Dr Philip McMillan & Robert Francis Kennedy Jr's ironically named Children's Health Defense to post dangerous misinformation here.

💉 Vaccine Gold Rush? More Like a Narrow Track.

Remember when every pharma company scrambled to get a piece of the vaccine pie during the COVID era?

🌍 The great immunization gold rush had everyone chasing pandemic glory and investors chasing them!

Fast forward to 2025 H1, and here’s a reality check:

The vaccine leaderboard is surprisingly familiar… and not very crowded!

📊 Top 5 Global Vaccine Revenues (H1 2025):
🥇 Prevnar family – $1,660M
🥈 Gardasil / Gardasil 9 – $1,327M
🥉 Shingrix – $1,092M
4️⃣ Polio/Pertussis/Hib & Boosters – $728M
5️⃣ Comirnaty (COVID-19) – $565M

… and then the drop begins!

There’s no new “vaccine unicorn” roaring up the charts.
There’s no post-pandemic revolution in who leads.
✅ Legacy winners are still winning.
✅ Routine immunization keeps steady.
❌ New entrants? Few and far between.

🤔 What happened to the post-COVID vaccine renaissance?
Maybe it wasn’t a renaissance, just a moment?!

💬 Curious to hear: Is the vaccine field consolidating again? Or are we just in a quiet before the next biotech storm?

💕 Thank you, dear Joanna, for this great data!

#VaccineMarket #Biotech #PharmaInsights #DrugSales2025 #PostCOVID #PharmaStrategy #biotechindustry #H12025 #revenue #biopharma

Why do people's stances on vaccines change?

This is an interesting question, with the answer being that experiences are a huge reason why people change their vaccination stance.

This explains why people can see vaccines in very diverse ways, and more broadly, why people see public health in very diverse ways. This is distinct from how health authorities frame vaccination (in terms of statistics etc) .

This really gives a window into why there can be issues in communicating about vaccines and public health, and therefore why some areas really lag in reaching high vaccination rates

If we want to understand how to change the public's perception of vaccines, we need to think about how we can frame them in a way that resonates with as many people as possible.

My article on why people change their stance on vaccination- click the link to check it out

https://lnkd.in/e9KCdgJh