Hi everyone,

I edit the Vaccines Today website and we are planning to open a new section in the coming months called Your Stories.

The idea is simple: we want more personal stories from guest authors about their experience with vaccination. We're looking for contributions from parents, doctors, researchers, public health officials, campaigners and anyone else with a story to tell.

Many…

When European governments’ credit ratings were downgraded it became more expensive to raise money  for health development projects

For the past six years, the GAVI Alliance has been raising money on financial markets through the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). This is achieved by selling…

Hi everyone,

Vaccines Today is launching a new competition designed to get students (particularly, but not exclusively, medical students) interested in immunisation issues.

This is the first (and pilot) edition of the Communication Challengebut we hope it could be expanded next year. We are looking for a fun and creative communication concept which can enhance…

Celebrities have been blamed for pedalling inaccurate information to the public about vaccines. So should pro-vaccine celebrities be mobilised to undo the damage?

Doctors and public health authorities have been…

There's something interesting going on in the world of immunisation and this time it's in the communications world rather than in the lab.

This week, I've noticed a series of apparently unconnected events and publications turning the spotlight on the need for new thinking in how we engage with the public about vaccination.

The ECDC's…

The decision to vaccinate yourself or your family can be viewed as a social contract whereby the majority of individuals take an action in the interest of protecting the entire community.

According to Angus Thomson, Director of Vaccination Advocacy at Sanofi Pasteur, who was the special guest at a TEDxBrussels event on April 5, the success of polio and smallpox vaccination gave birth to a new unwritten contract…

The US has done it, Cuba did it, and it looks like all four Scandinavian countries may have managed it. But most European countries are still struggling to wipe out rubella.

Rubella is usually a mild childhood disease but it can cause serious birth defects if pregnant women are infected. At a recent conference in Rome, experts looked at how the experiences of other countries can…

This article looks at the sensitive issue of persuading people to be immunised against preventable diseases - including diseases which are no longer commonly seen in Europe.

Some say fear has been used by a small number of anti-vaccination groups to discourage immunisation. Should public health authorities fight fire with fire by highlighting the frightening consequences of allowing polio to return or permit…

Europe must encourage its citizens to be vaccinated but faces a tough battle against ‘unfounded fears’ which have proven hard to eradicate, according to a leading MEP and childhood immunisation advocate.

In an exclusive interview with Vaccines Today, Austrian MEP Karin Kadenbach said social media are having a major influence…

I came away from this week's launch of European Immunization Week in sombre mood. To be honest, I'd expected some fairly perfunctory speeches about the importance of vaccination, the usual niceties about improving communication, followed by coffee and a chat.I was looking forward to it.

But the real sense of unease among top public health officials from the WHO, UN and European Commission - as well as political and royal representatives of Belgium - was palpable.

They painted a…

At this morning's EIW launch several speakers mentioned the problems that parents face when they move their families from one country to another while their children are in the middle of the national immunisation programme.

All EU nations have very good immunisation systems but they differ from country to country - and sometimes even from one region to the next.

My own daughter is nine months old and has had several shots thanks to the excellent public health system in Belgium.…

Just back from the EIW launch in Brussels. There were some big-hitters from all sides of the public health and policymaking hierarchy but all were agreed that Europe has some serious work to do on re-building public trust in immunisation.

This has been clear for some time but the outbreaks of polio in Central Asia and of measles in several western European nations have focused minds like never before.

(We've covered this a few times on Vaccines Today recently - see…

Bill Gates' has turned out to be a very effective immunisation advocate, as evidenced by his whirlwind trip through Europe. He has managed to get 'face time' with MEPs, the European Commission as well as movers and shakers in Berlin and Paris. Check out European Commission President Barroso's comments after their…

Check out Vaccines Today - the new online vaccines portal. 

The site was launched last week and aims to become the major hub for vaccine-related news and information in Europe. It's interactive so you can post comments, share videos on the YouTube channel or follow the…