Looking to strengthen your skills in Markov modelling for cost-effectiveness analysis?

The African Health Economics and Systems Group (AfHESG) is hosting a free one-day hybrid training on Advanced Cost-Effectiveness Analysis – Markov Modelling on 5th August 2026 (8.30am – 5.00pm EAT).

The training combines theory with a practical modelling exercise to help participants understand how Markov models are developed and applied. These models are widely used in immunization economic evaluations to estimate the long-term costs and health outcomes of vaccination programmes. Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of participation.

Topics include:
📊 Introduction to Markov models for economic evaluation.
🔄 Designing models, including health states and transitions.
💰 Estimating costs, health outcomes and ICERs.
📑 Good modelling practice, model validation and sensitivity analysis.
🖥️ A practical hands-on modelling exercise.

🔗 Register here: https://shorturl.at/9SmRg

KEMRI - Wellcome Trust, Edwine Barasa, Jacob Kazungu, Prashant Mandaliya, Dr. John Ojal, Dr. Angela Kairu, Fridah Nkirote, Stephen Katana

There’s nothing wrong with asking questions about vaccines. Just be open to hearing and acting on the answers we provide. https://lnkd.in/e3FsEw_U

Shedding some belated love for this new MandEval paper led by my indefatigable colleague Hang Duong. Vaccine mandates don't just taketh, sometimes they giveth back. We explain it all here in our "removal and restoration" model and add two new Ss to the 5S framework developed by Mark Navin and me. VaxPol Lab

Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), asked ASPR nominee Sean Kaufman about his suggestion in a now-deleted LinkedIn post that countries who gave infants a hepatitis B vaccine at birth had the highest rates of hepatitis B.

"Of course, that was misleading," said Cassidy, who is a hepatologist.

"It was the people who were not vaccinated that had the burden of disease. So your LinkedIn post was either uninformed or deliberately misleading."

Read our full coverage of yesterday's confirmation hearing: https://lnkd.in/eNsz9p65

Claiming damages do not make these real, nor clinically relevant. But it does not change the facts here that mRNA vaccines do prevent COVID aftermaths, always worse post infections than post vaccination.

"Large volumes of vaccines are produced in developing countries, with the three largest Indian producers alone making up more than 40 percent of the global total of vaccine output in 2024.

This is in stark contrast to the financial value of vaccines produced that year.

Here, U.S. pharma companies Merck and Pfizer together made up more than 40 percent of that metric despite only producing around 10 percent of global vaccines.

This is according to the World Health Organizations' Global Vaccine Market Report.

The concentration of earnings is due to the two companies specializing in some expensive vaccines, namely the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer in the case of Merck and pneumococcal vaccinations in the case of Pfizer.

While around 100 million and 350 million of these vaccines were produced in 2024, they were valued at more than more than $9 billion and more than $8 billion, respectively.

At the same time, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world by volume, the Serum Institute of India, produces the oral polio vaccine as its biggest seller.

In its case, more than 2 billion doses a year bring in only $50 million a year, half of which is bought up by the World Health Organization for use in immunization campaigns around the world.

While the oral polio vaccine is an older immunization that is already out of use in most nations, the HPV and PCV vaccines are newer, having been rolled out in the 2000s.

Merck, Pfizer and other pharma enterprises on the list of the biggest earners from vaccines are clearly profit-oriented companies and also pay for the development and licensing of vaccines.

In contrast, the Serum Institute’s mission is explicitly to produce vaccine at prices “affordable to the common man and in abundance”.

Additionally, the Serum Institute did not develop or buy the rights to the oral polio vaccine as its formula is in the public domain.

It also obtains most of its other licenses for vaccines through agreements with international organizations or institutions."

Source text & graphic Statista

Which social media platforms act as ‘superspreaders’ of hate speech? (Straight Arrow News):

https://lnkd.in/dZbKAbFk

Glimpse: According to a recent study by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube react to extremist and offensive content associated with the Identitarian movement very differently. The majority of flagged accounts were deleted from TikTok, while YouTube and Instagram continued to be "superspreaders." Due to laxer content-moderation policies on major platforms, the Identitarian movement, which is associated with extremist violence and the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, has increased its online presence by 70% in recent years. Enforcement discrepancies can be partially explained by policy differences: YouTube has inconsistent hate speech bans, TikTok has more stringent removal criteria, and Meta has narrowed its hate speech regulations. According to GPAHE, inconsistent enforcement makes it possible for terrorist-inspired content to reach millions of people. As a result, platforms are urged to tighten their moderation systems and execute their regulations consistently.

Mandatory reading!

“A narrative has taken hold that science and the humanities are at odds. In universities around the world, investment in cutting-edge technologies often comes at the expense of retrenchment in philosophy, history, literature and the arts. Contraction of the humanities is presented as an unavoidable cost of modernization. But that ‘zero sum’ logic is flawed. As science and technology race ahead, the world needs humanities research to understand the reasons and implications.”

"Again, you read that right. RFK Jr. wanted to remove the MMR vaccine from the schedule last fall, even as the largest outbreaks of measles this century had been raging all over the country since early 2025. You might wonder why on earth RFK Jr. would want to do something that, from a public health standpoint, is obviously such a disastrously stupid thing to do. If you know RFK Jr. you know why. As I will discuss in the next section, his belief in the disproven hypothesis that MMR (and other vaccines) cause autism is unshakeable and fanatical. As for the denials from HHS that removing the MMR and polio vaccines from the schedule “had never been considered,” let’s just say that lying liars lie. RFK Jr.’s history since 2005 makes it very plausible that he would want to use his power to get rid of the MMR vaccine from the schedule.

....

I will admit here that I did not foresee that RFK Jr., facing obstacles to reshaping ACIP to his will (and also running into just how incompetent the antivax cranks whom he appointed to ACIP turned out to be when given responsibility), would take direct personal control over dictating vaccine policy and the CDC’s vaccine schedule. I will have to update my list of strategies to account for that. Given the enormity of the Department that he runs, his focusing so much on vaccine policy personally should tell you that he is indeed a committed antivax ideologue. Indeed, The New York Times recently reported that RFK Jr. “demonstrated little interest in managing his sprawling department as he focuses on food and vaccine policies,” reporting that he is “single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.” He is often out of town, and when he is in town, his workday is not exactly what we would call long or hard, with HHS staff reporting that”he exercises at his gym before work, then usually arrives at about 10 a.m. and leaves by 4 p.m.” Basically, if the NYT reporting is accurate—and I have no reason to believe that it is not—other than for the issues of vaccines, pesticides, and food, HHS is running on autopilot. RFK Jr. angrily denies that he’s checked out, but, again, I don’t believe him. Lying liars lie.

Again, it’s RFK Jr. being RFK Jr. He is antivax."

Conservative MP Dean Allison holds a news conference on Parliament Hill to provide an update on his call for an inquiry into Canadians who may have been injured by COVID-19 vaccines. (no interpretation)

Dans un avis très attendu publié ce lundi 20 juillet, la Haute autorité de santé s'est prononcée sur l'obligation vaccinale contre la grippe. L'organisme la recommande pour tous les professionnels de santé afin de protéger les personnes le

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) pressed two of President Donald Trump’s top health nominees on vaccine skepticism and promotion of conspiracy theories and the ongoing politicization of public health and research threatening the health of Americans. During the confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Baldwin pressed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz, on whether she thinks vaccines are safe and effective and whether political influence and pressure from President Trump would come before the health and safety of Americans.

Senator Baldwin also questioned Trump’s nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sean Kaufman, on his view of vaccines given his track record promoting the disproven link between safe vaccines and autism and previous statements that he would “rather perish” than allow his child to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccine misinformation began with the first smallpox vaccine in 1796, making it as old as immunology itself. When Dr. Edward Jenner introduced the cowpox-derived inoculation to combat smallpox, it triggered immediate pushback fueled by fear, religious objections, and bizarre rumors. Despite centuries of medical advancement, the core arguments used by modern anti-vaccine movements remain identical to those used during the eradication of smallpox.
McCullough Foundation has not invented the term, nor the strategy. Still the same old stuff…Only new faces…

 📱🧠 In health crises, misinformation spreads faster than the virus itself.

EU discussions emphasize that trust and clear communication are as critical as vaccines, surveillance, or medical response.

Without trust, even good policy fails.

#Misinformation #PublicHealth #TrustInScience #EU #HealthCommunication

📌 https://lnkd.in/dDbdGZT7

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has declared the country's growing immunization gap a National Public Health Emergency, warning that Pakistan now has an estimated 651,000 "zero-dose" children—children who have not received even their first dose of the DTP1 (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine.
Citing recent World Health Organization (WHO) data, the PMA warned that the declining vaccination coverage has weakened herd immunity and increased the risk of preventable disease outbreaks. The association urged immediate nationwide action to strengthen routine immunization, improve healthcare access, and rebuild public confidence in vaccination programmes.
Health experts stress that timely immunization remains one of the most effective ways to protect children from life-threatening diseases.
What steps do you think should be prioritized to improve childhood vaccination coverage in Pakistan? Share your thoughts below.
Hashtags
#StartSpace #Pakistan #PublicHealth #Vaccination #Immunization #ChildHealth #WHO #PMA #Healthcare #HealthNews #BreakingNews #CurrentAffairs
AI Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This visual contains AI-generated elements created for illustrative purposes. It is not an authentic photograph of the reported event and is intended solely to visually represent the news based on publicly available information.

What if ? Well here is the truth, it is that SIDS is not related to are vaccines… And while Vejon Health Ltd is trying to hide
the final lie here (trying to blame vaccines), vaccines have nothing to do with SIDS. Nothing at all…
And btw, should the guy rethink how relevant he is ? 1 attendee for this discussion shows how irrelevant he is…

My past article in Politico on fake news seems as relevant as ever: “Fake news is not a new phenomenon. It has been around since news became a concept 500 years ago with the invention of print—a lot longer, in fact, than verified, “objective” news, which emerged in force a little more than a century ago. From the start, fake news has tended to be sensationalist and extreme, designed to inflame passions and prejudices. And it has often provoked violence. The Nazi propaganda machine relied on the same sorts of fake stories about ritual Jewish drinking of childrens’ blood that inspired Prince-Bishop Hinderbach in the 15th century. Perhaps most dangerous is how terrifyingly persistent and powerful fake news has proved to be.”

https://lnkd.in/g7mX2YzB

Did a new study prove that Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine persists in the body for 3.5 years and alters human DNA? 🧬

Following a wave of viral claims, the authors of a controversial single-patient case report have paid to publish their work in the Medical Research Archives (European Society of Medicine).

In my newly updated investigation at Tech ARP, I break down why publishing in a known predatory journal does not validate broken science.

Why the scientific consensus remains unchanged:
1. A Predatory Pay-to-Play System: The European Society of Medicine (ESMED) is widely recognised as a predatory publisher. It bypasses rigorous peer-review and charges up to $3,999 to publish papers that legitimate, indexed databases like MEDLINE and PubMed Central refuse to carry.

2. The Power of One ($N=1$): A single, highly subjective case report of one individual provides zero statistical power and cannot establish causation for billions of vaccinated people.

3. The Missing Baseline: The authors failed to sequence the patient's DNA before vaccination in 2021. The mutations they observed are simply natural background genomic noise accumulated with age.

4. Basic Biology: Vaccine mRNA degrades rapidly in the cytoplasm and is physically locked out of the cell nucleus, making genomic alteration impossible.

Peer-reviewed credentials should not be bought. Learn how to spot predatory science in our complete medical analysis.

👇 Read the full fact-check and see the data breakdown in the first comment below.

#PublicHealth #FactCheck #mRNA #MedicalScience #TechARP #MedEd | 34 comments on LinkedIn

 In this TED talk, anthropologist and VCP founder and director Heidi J. Larson explains how vaccine confidence depends on the
entire trust chain: from science labs to clinics to governments.
Break one link, and confidence weakens.

#VaccineConfidence #PublicHealth #TrustInScience #GlobalHealth #ScienceCommunication
 
https://lnkd.in/dBA5vRiT

True fact. Disinformation is a rising tide that threatens to swamp critical thinking and evidence based information, but finding a solution is a vastly complex and is going to take an awful lot of stakeholders. The points made here are excellent, but I am afraid it's a much broader scope as far as solutions.

https://lnkd.in/ePsEceqE