Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright
Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for
Immunization Information (NNii). Visit NNii's new website at
http://www.immunizationinfo.org.
According to Zimbabwe's
deputy minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, a shortage of
vaccines around the world means that Zimbabwe
has vaccines enough to last until about the end of 2002, as a number of small
drug makers are closing and big manufacturers are adjusting how they produce
certain treatments. Parirenyatwa, who recently attended a World Health Assembly
in Geneva, also noted that "the big companies are now working towards coming up
with one drug for all the six child killer diseases, and it's only sophisticated
big companies that can be able to do that." A recent report from the Global
Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) concluded that 1.8 million deaths
occur annually from conditions that vaccines could prevent, and 25 percent of
the children born every year do not receive vaccinations; but GAVI and the
Vaccine Fund have been working to give poor nations vaccines for hepatitis B,
which kills hundreds of thousands annually, and backing for vaccination
initiatives. The Vaccine Fund, now with resources worth nearly $1 billion, has
offered awards to national government health authorities who applied and
demonstrated working interagency coordination committees, long-term immunization
plans, and review of services.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"