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Vaccination policy

A member of the National Guard, center, administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to a farmworker.

Vaccine mandates aren’t new. But do they work?

COVID-19

With lagging vaccine campaigns and threats of the new delta variant, some world leaders are prompted to impose vaccine mandates.

In this Sept. 15, 2020, file photo, a Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia.

The key to combating vaccine hesitancy? Deep listening, tailored messaging.

COVID-19
Edward Jenner, vaccinating his young child, held by Mrs. Jenner; a maid rolls up her sleeve, a man stands outside holding a cow. Coloured engraving by C. Manigaud after E Hamman.

From cow pox to mumps: people have always had a problem with vaccination

The percentage of parents who refuse to give any vaccines to their children remain at one to two percent of the general public. There is a much larger group of people who have doubts and concerns over certain vaccinations, experts say.

Despite dozens of recent flu deaths among US children, vaccination skeptics remain — and their numbers have grown

Health
Rush Holt

Should scientists play a role in shaping global policy?

Science
A girl cries before receiving polio vaccine drops at a government children's hospital in Peshawar on March 3, 2015. Pakistan authorities have arrested hundreds of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against polio.

Facing a determined opposition, Pakistani officials tell parents to vaccinate their kids or go to jail

Health

Some parents in Pakistan so deeply mistrust the polio vaccine that they’re refused over and over again to let their kids get their shots. Now one fed-up province in Pakistan, which has the most polio cases of any country on Earth, is tossing those parents in jail until they relent.

A girl receives anti-measles vaccination drops in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Mass national vaccination campaigns against measles and polio are common in much of the developing world.

A Nigerian writer mocks US disease concern, saying that Africa should screen Americans for measles

Health

The wildly popular tweet was aimed at a nation that stigmatized all Africans during the Ebola outbreak. While the US government recommends all its citizens get inoculations, including one for measles, many states allow exemptions for personal or philosophical concerns. Immigrants, however, don’t enjoy that choice.