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.
Dr. David Heymann, head of communicable diseases
at the World Health Organization (WHO), emphasized on Thursday the urgency of
getting cheaper, safe, and effective vaccines to the people living in the
"meningitis belt" of Africa. A new strain of meningitis, W135, threatens
millions of lives from Senegal to Ethiopia; already this year Burkina Faso has
recorded 12,000 cases of meningitis, with 1,500 deaths. While a vaccine that
offers protection against four strains of meningitis, including W135, costs
about $5 in the Middle East and as much as $50 a dose in the United States,
activists are calling on drug makers to produce a version at about $1 per dose.
The WHO, private and government agencies, and vaccine manufacturers Aventis,
Chiron, and GlaxoSmithKline will meet in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, next week to
discuss the issues of high vaccine prices and fears of emerging epidemics.
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?"