This week, two new studies made strong cases for vaccines against deadly viruses with limited alternative treatments. Vaccine advocates have been quick to herald these findings as proof of the benefits of large-scale inoculation campaigns.
The findings give health care practitioners and communicators new ammunition in the information wars regarding vaccines.
A new study examining child deaths from influenza has found that a large percentage had not been vaccinated.
[The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] found that at least three-quarters of kids who died from influenza between 2010 and 2014 had not been vaccinated in the months before they got sick.
The study looked at 358 children who died of influenza from 2010 to 2014 and found that children stood to benefit from a flu vaccine even if they were otherwise healthy.
[…]while kids with asthma, developmental disorders and other conditions are at especially high risk, fully half the kids who died were considered healthy before they became infected[…]
Just under half of all children were vaccinated against flu in those years.
Overall, the flu vaccine lowered the risk of death in children by 65 percent, but only by 51 percent in high-risk kids.
Researchers took pains to explain the numbers behind the findings to avoid ambiguity and counter critics.
"It reduced the chances of dying of flu by 65 percent but it was not 100 percent," said flu vaccine researcher Dr. John Treanor of the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. "We recognize that the current vaccine is not perfect. But it is substantially better than not getting vaccinated. The vaccine we have now does work but only if you use it."
Researchers in Scotland also released findings on the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, this time of a much larger sample size.
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The BBC tweeted:
A vaccine is having a startling impact on rates of a cancer-causing infection in Scotland #BBCGMS https://t.co/Fxct7RIWS2 http://pic.twitter.com/OdelSsdynq
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) April 5, 2017
The BBC highlighted the scope of the project, one of the largest studies yet of the vaccine.
The research, which was funded by the Scottish government, looked at samples from more than 20,000 women, making it one of the largest population-based studies on the impact of the vaccine.
Health organizations have used the new studies to educate the public on vaccine efficacy and necessity.
Some doctors tweeted links to the research:
Most kids who die from flu are NOT vaccinated. Flu vaccine not perfect, but it helps save kids lives. https://t.co/rUYcwr9cFP @AmerAcadPeds
— Andrey Ostrovsky, MD (@AndreyOstrovsky) April 3, 2017
Most Kids Who Die Of #Flu Not #Vaccinated Against The Virus, Study Shows https://t.co/EHtBQ2uRBZ
— John P Erwin III MD (@HeartOTXHeartMD) April 4, 2017
This comes in the wake of renewed debate over vaccine policy as anti-vaccine activists march on Washington and many anticipate a change in messaging form the Trump administration on vaccines.
The American Academy of Pediatricians tweeted a short video:
RT @healthychildren: Vaccines are safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines save lives. #VaccinesWork http://pic.twitter.com/batlaf8GY8
— Amer Acad Pediatrics (@AmerAcadPeds) March 31, 2017
Cleveland Clinic is recovering from a PR nightmare when one of its doctors questioned the flu vaccine in a guest blog on their website.
The renowned facility disavowed his statement, but for some the damage was already done.
Troubling examples of "pseudoscience" at the Cleveland Clinic https://t.co/fOgpXyobBJ
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 11, 2017
The @ClevelandClinic must specifically disavow Dr. Neides in a high-profile manner. But the damage has already been done.
— Kevin Pho, M.D. (@kevinmd) January 8, 2017
Communicators, how are you talking about vaccines? What has changed for you in the vaccine debate?
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