Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Calif. Sets New Vaccine Requirements For Colleges; Autism Group Urges Measles Shots
The Washington Post: Measles Outbreak Spurs New Action In California, New Mexico
Students at the University of California’s 10 campuses will be required to be screened for tuberculosis and to be vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases under a new health plan set to take effect in 2017, the university said Friday. Announcement of the policy change, which goes beyond the hepatitis B shots required of all 233,000 UC students, comes amid measles outbreaks that have infected more than 100 people in California and more than a dozen more in 19 other U.S. states and Mexico since December. (Gorman, 2/7)
Los Angeles Times: UC Widens Vaccination Requirements For 2017
All UC students will have to be vaccinated against measles, meningitis, whooping cough and several other diseases or they will not be allowed to register for classes in fall 2017, university officials announced Friday. Those shots will be in addition to the current systemwide requirement for the hepatitis B vaccine. (Gordon, 2/6)
The Washington Post: Autism Speaks, Leading Autism Advocate, Urges Vaccination
A leading autism advocacy organization, Autism Speaks, is urging parents to vaccinate their children amid a measles outbreak that has swept 14 states. As some continue to cite unfounded fears that vaccinations can lead to autism, Autism Speaks chief science officer Rob Ring has released a statement saying vaccinations cannot cause the disorder — and telling parents to vaccinate their children. (Bever, 2/9)
The Associated Press: KinderCare Requiring Measles Shots For Infants' Caregivers
A national day care provider says that as of next week it will require measles vaccinations for all staff members who work with children less than 15 months old, after health officials in Illinois announced measles diagnoses in five infants who attended a suburban Chicago center. KinderCare Learning Centers, which has 1,500 locations nationwide, noted the requirement in a letter to parents posted on its website and dated Thursday, the same day the Illinois cases were announced. (2/6)
The Wall Street Journal: How Anti-Vaccination Trends Vex Herd Immunity
When large segments of a population are immunized against measles, it reduces the risk of exposure for everyone in the community, including families who refuse vaccines. The concept is called herd immunity. But when too many healthy people forgo vaccinations—as they have in pockets of California and other states—the whole herd becomes more vulnerable, not just those who skipped shots. Without vaccines, measles and other infectious diseases can proliferate, and people who were previously protected may become imperiled. (McGinty, 2/6)
The outbreak has also stoked political and policy debates surrounding vaccination -
The Associated Press: Paul On Vaccines, Thin Line Between Medicine And Politics
As a medical doctor, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has a rare set of credentials at the intersection of science and politics. But the glare of the 2016 presidential race is searing, and under it, Paul had a rough week. ... Paul said Monday that he had heard about "many tragic cases" of children who got vaccines and ended up with "profound mental disorders." That assertion has no basis in medical research, and Paul clearly was still upset on Friday about how his comments had been received. "It may be a little because I'm a doctor, but really I think it's inaccuracies" fueled by reporters, he told The Associated Press. "From my point of view, that's frustrating." (Beaumont and Kellman, 2/7)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Why Did Obama’s Budget Proposal Cut Federal Immunization Funding?
The president’s proposal to cut funding for the federal immunization program came into focus amid the measles outbreak and vaccine controversy. ... The president’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2016 proposes a $50 million cut, or 8 percent, from $611 million. Given President Obama’s push for all parents to vaccinate their children, [White House press secretary Josh] Earnest was asked, why would he cut the federal immunization program? Is Earnest correct that the Affordable Care Act “guarantees” every American has access to free preventive care, including vaccines? Does the Affordable Care Act decrease the need for funding for the 317 program? (Lee, 2/9)
Religion News Service/The Washington Post: Vaccines And Abortion? The Links Are Cloudy And Complicated
The Internet rumors that claim vaccinations mean having tiny pieces of aborted fetuses injected into your body are flat-out wrong, yet there is a grain of truth in the assertion that vaccinations and abortions are linked. Many of the most common vaccines, for rubella and chicken pox for example, are grown in and then removed from cells descended from the cells of aborted fetuses. Pregnant women aborted them about 40 years ago by choice, and not with the intent of aiding vaccine production. Yet for some religious believers, those facts do not lift what they see as a moral prohibition against vaccination. (Markoe, 2/4)
