1) "Whooping cough can be stopped" Missoulian (MT) (May 14, 2012) - "Western Montana is experiencing a recurrence of pertussis. This disease that is so dangerous to the young can be controlled if we act together, using vaccination, social distancing and handwashing...Pertussis still kills more than 300,000 children per year, primarily in resource-poor parts of the world. In the U.S. there were 10,000 deaths per year before the vaccine became available. Initially there was a dramatic reduction in the number of cases, but recently the numbers have risen again. Most of this is from transmission to the young from persons who are inadequately immunized. In Washington state there are over 1,300 cases already this year. There are 135 cases in Montana, over twice the number from all of 2011, and dramatically more than the total number of just seven in 2010. We fortunately have not had any deaths here, but children have been hospitalized and lives have been disrupted." http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/whooping-cough-can-be-stopped/article_a7dea434-9dd4-11e1-9ee8-001a4bcf887a.html 2) "Vaccine requirement for kids would be beefed up under Maryland proposals" Baltimore Sun (May 15, 2012) - "Maryland's children would be required to get more vaccines before attending school under a proposal being considered by state health officials. But doctors and state health officials said most children are already getting the shots and that they are looking to regulate the process. Under the proposed guidelines, pupils would be required to get a chicken pox booster before starting kindergarten. The chicken pox vaccine is now required to be given to babies. Seventh-graders would be required to get the Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. The whooping cough, or pertussis, booster would be an addition to current guidelines and was included because it can wane from when babies get the vaccine." http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-vaccine-requirements-20120515,0,5444237.story 3) "Concerned Parents Call Out Irresponsible Media" Shot of Prevention (May 16, 2012) - "Modern culture is often reflected in everything from the skewed view of popular reality shows and viral YouTube videos, to the personal discussions friends have on Facebook and in online chat rooms. Since we are bombarded by such a wide variety of media, today's parents must constantly navigate the popular messages and decipher between that which serves to entertain, versus that which is intended as news and information. The challenge is that this is becoming increasingly difficult to do - especially when it pertains to parenting and children's health." http://shotofprevention.com/2012/05/16/concerned-parents-call-out-irresponsible-media/ 4) "Should childhood vaccination be mandatory?" Science Codex (May 14, 2012) - "On bmj.com today, two experts debate whether childhood vaccination should be mandatory in the UK. Paul Offit, Chief of Infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia believes that mandatory vaccination is needed to protect vulnerable people from infection. He argues that, when parents choose not to vaccinate, not only are they making a choice for their own children, they are also making a choice for those with whom their children come into contact. This includes children who are too young to receive vaccines and those who can't be vaccinated and depend on those around them to be protected. Which is paramount: the freedom to make bad health decisions or the right of the community to protect itself from those decisions, he asks? In the United States, mandatory vaccination clearly increases uptake, he says. For example, unlike the UK and Europe, the US didn't suffer a measles epidemic after claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. And in 2011, most of the 200 measles cases in the US were linked to European travel." http://www.sciencecodex.com/should_childhood_vaccination_be_mandatory-91580
