The chance of living one more year is up to 44% more likely thanks to the past 50 years of vaccines, according to new research. But global drops in vaccine coverage pose a risk.
The resurgence of measles and whooping cough is troubling. The most effective way to prevent the return and spread of vaccine-preventable diseases is through vaccination and combating vaccine hesitancy.
Adam R Houston, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and Jason Nickerson, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Any upsurge in measles is of real concern, but in settings aggravated by poor living conditions and malnutrition, it can be disastrous. It can affect adults, but young children are at particular risk.
David Higgins, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
A pediatrician and preventive medicine physician explains how measles vaccines became victims of their own success and the risk that rising outbreaks pose to everyone.
On the fourth anniversary of New Zealand’s first COVID case it’s clear this is not a normal pandemic. Despite fatigue and indifference, New Zealand must heed the evidence and improve its response.
This whirlwind tour of social history describes how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. It suggests reducing inequality will give us our best chance of surviving future plagues.
The pandemic has disrupted national immunisation programmes. As a result, the African continent is seeing more outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.
Authorities have been warned about five virus families that could cause future pandemics. Here are snapshots of the diseases each can cause and why we should be worried.
Anna Howe, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Emma Best, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Matthew Hobbs, University of Canterbury
The risk of serious disease outbreaks among NZ children is now very real. Some childhood immunisation rates have dropped from about 80% in early 2020 to 67% by June 2022, and as low as 45% for Māori.
Public health experts know that schools are likely sites for the spread of disease, and laws tying school attendance to vaccination go back to the 1800s.
A growing body of research shows that nutrition, sleep, exercise and a host of other lifestyle choices can help optimize the immune system. But they are no substitute for life-saving vaccines.
Paediatrician, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance; Clinical Lecturer, Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney
Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, and Professor of Neurology, University of Liverpool