U.S. parents who decline or delay selected vaccinations or refuse to vaccinate their children are a diverse group. Vaccine coverage can be increased by focusing on parents who encounter barriers to obtaining vaccines or hesitate because of fears about safety.

One of the factors driving vaccination policy is societal value, one measure of which is cost-effectiveness. Unlike most U.S. public health institutions, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices explicitly considers cost-effectiveness in making recommendations.

California has begun implementing the Affordable Care Act, recognizing that the stakes are high. The state is expected to have more newly insured people than any other state, and whether expanded coverage will improve access to care and population health is uncertain.

In April 2009, a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged in the United States with the key characteristics of a pandemic virus, and within weeks it had spread to every region in the country.¹ Ultimately, the rate of death was lower than was initially ...

Pandemic Vaccines — The Legal Landscape Wendy Parmet writes that the recent H1N1 influenza vaccine program provides an important opportunity to assess the complex and perhaps paradoxical effects of vaccine laws during a pandemic.

Drs. Margaret Danchin and Julie Bines write that the global recommendation for rotavirus vaccination marks a major step toward reducing the contribution of rotavirus to child mortality. However, 86% of deaths due to rotavirus occur in Africa and Asia, ...

Recently, three special masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued carefully reasoned, strongly worded opinions rejecting claims that medical and scientific evidence could demonstrate causal links between vaccination and chronic health conditions. ...

On September 12, Michigan lawmakers became the first to propose that vaccination against human papillomavirus be compulsory for girls entering sixth grade. Dr. James Colgrove writes that laws making vaccination compulsory raise unique ethical and policy ...

During the past 12 months, poliovirus has been spreading to states in Nigeria that were previously free of poliomyelitis. Moreover, global surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis¹ — involving the genomic sequencing of each wild poliovirus that is ...

A hundred thousand persons, upon the smallest computation, have been inoculated in these realms. The number who have partaken of its benefits throughout Europe and other parts of the globe are incalculable; and it now becomes too manifest to admit of ...