A man receives the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Covina in March. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Vaccines are one of the greatest public health tools for preventing the spread of infectious disease and death. Innovations in vaccines have helped all but eliminate significant threats from measles, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza, and pneumococcal disease among those who are vaccinated.
A display of vaccines that are, or will be, available to fight COVID-19. (Photo: iTechGuru, via Shutterstock)The recent rollout of two newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines is a bright ray of hope at the pandemic’s darkest hour. We now have a path that can lead us to happier times — even as we watch and suffer from the horrible onslaught of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths that mark the end of this regrettable year.
An image of a vaccination. (Photo: KPG_Payless, via Shutterstock)OPINION: In anticipation of a forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine, lawmakers in California must extend the authority of pharmacists to administer all vaccines approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
SB277 removes the right of informed consent from California parents. It slid through the Senate Floor on a Democratic Party line, and paused briefly at the Assembly Health Committee Hearing June 9th, drawing over 5,000 people in protest to the Capitol stairs and hallways of Sacramento. Its next stop, this week, the Assembly Floor Vote.
A child getting vaccinated. (Photo: Thinkstock, Dimitry Naumov)The Kaiser study found that, on an individual level, under-immunization—where a child misses one or more of the required doses before age 3—was higher in neighborhoods with more families in poverty as well as those with more graduate degrees. But even after adjusting for factors such as race and income, the study still found statistically significant geographic clusters of under-immunization.