Uncategorized

Headlines: Vaccinating Adolescents

The U.S. medical system does a good job of vaccinating children.  The CDC has a list of recommended vaccinations which most children receive during routine physician visits.  As children grow into adolescents, however, they are less likely to visit their primary care provider regularly.  As a handful of new vaccines are targeted at teens (e.g., vaccines against meningococcal meningitis), the CDC is trying to target to teens using in-school vaccinations.

Reactions to this policy depends on whether you believe these vaccines provide more health benefits than risks (which I and most researchers do) or if you believe the risks of illness outweighs the health benefits.

Below are two headlines describing the same pilot in-school vaccination program in Denver.

  • “Pilot program provides shots to kids in Denver schools” – Denver Post
  • “Pharma Planning to Dump Experimental and Controversial Vaccines in Public Schools” – PreventDisease.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *