Media/Policy Watch
This section is intended to alert readers to substantive news, analysis and opinion from the general media on vaccines, immunization, global; public health and related themes. Media Watch is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicative of themes and issues CVEP is actively tracking. This section will grow from an initial base of newspapers, magazines and blog sources, and is segregated from Journal Watch above which scans the peer-reviewed journal ecology.

We acknowledge the Western/Northern bias in this initial selection of titles and invite suggestions for expanded coverage. We are conservative in our outlook in adding news sources which largely report on primary content we are already covering above. Many electronic media sources have tiered, fee-based subscription models for access. We will provide full-text where content is published without restriction, but most publications require registration and some subscription level.

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BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Accessed 26 March 2016
Uganda to jail parents over missed vaccinations
25 March 2016
Parents who fail to vaccinate their children in Uganda will face six months in jail, according to a new law signed by President Yoweri Museveni.
It also requires children to have an immunisation card to allow them to go to school.
The law will help the government reach its vaccination target, Health Minister Sarah Achieng Opendi told the BBC.
Some parents and members of a religious cult have refused to allow their children vaccinated, she says.
The government’s vaccination campaign targets several life-threatening diseases including polio and meningitis…

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The Economist
http://www.economist.com/
Accessed 26 March 2016
Vaccination
A jab in time
Some Western countries have lower vaccination rates than poor parts of Africa. Anti-vaxxers are not the main culprits
Mar 26th 2016

HPV vaccines
The cost of embarrassment
A jab to ward off cervical cancer is standard for girls. Should boys have it, too?

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Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 26 March 2016
Thank You, Robert DeNiro, For Doing the Right Thing For Autistic Individuals And Children
Robert DeNiro and the Tribeca Film Festival have removed the film Vaxxed, made by Andrew Wakefield from the festival.
Tara Haelle, Contributor Mar 26, 2016

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 26 March 2016
Health
Robert De Niro Defends Screening of Anti-Vaccine Film at Tribeca Festival
By PAM BELLUCK and MELENA RYZIK
MARCH 25, 2016
In a decision that has dredged up the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, the Tribeca Film Festival plans to screen a film by a discredited former doctor whose research caused widespread alarm about the issue.

The film, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” is directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield, an anti-vaccination activist and an author of a study — published in the British medical journal The Lancet, in 1998 — that was retracted in 2010. In addition to the retraction of the study, which involved 12 children, Britain’s General Medical Council, citing ethical violations and a failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest, revoked Mr. Wakefield’s medical license.

On the festival’s website, the biographical material about Mr. Wakefield does not mention that he was stripped of his license or that his Lancet study was retracted. Rather, it says that the Lancet study “would catapult Wakefield into becoming one of the most controversial figures in the history of medicine.”

On Friday, Robert De Niro, one of the festival’s founders, said in a statement issued through the festival’s publicists that he supported the plan to show the movie next month, although he said he was “not personally endorsing the film,” nor was he against vaccination….
[see Forbes story above in which the film is reported to have been pulled from the Festival]

China Vaccine Scandal Stokes Anger as Regulators Come Under Fire
March 23, 2016 – By REUTERS
SHANGHAI — A widening scandal over illegal vaccine sales in China has sparked anger and drawn criticism from the government over glaring loopholes in the regulation of the world’s second-largest medicine market. Police detained 37.

China Detains Dozens After Sales of Poorly Stored Vaccines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSMARCH 22, 2016, 10:48 P.M. E.D.T.
BEIJING — Police in eastern China have detained 37 people implicated in a scandal involving the selling of poorly refrigerated and probably ineffective vaccines, state media reported Wednesday.
The scandal came to light after police last month announced the detentions of a woman and daughter thought to have sold nearly $100 million worth of the suspect products nationwide since 2011.
The scandal re-enforces longstanding concerns among the public over the safety of food and medicine. Nine pharmaceutical wholesalers believed to have sold the vaccines are being investigated.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang issued orders late Tuesday for government administrations to work together to conduct a thorough investigation. Along with prosecuting the criminals involved, government officials found guilty of negligence should be held to account, Li said, according to the official government website.
“This vaccine safety incident has created deep concern among the public and laid bare numerous regulatory loopholes,” Li was quoted as saying.
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday ordered a thorough check on where the vaccines were distributed and how they may have been used. The central government administration demanded local authorities investigate the nine wholesalers believed to have sold the vaccines.
The vaccines included those for hepatitis B, rabies, mumps and Japanese encephalitis.

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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/home-page?_wsjregion=na,us&_homepage=/home/us
Accessed 26 March 2016
De Niro’s Tribeca festival pulls anti-vaccination film
26 min ago
Robert De Niro is removing the anti-vaccination documentary “Vaxxed” from the lineup of his Tribeca Film Festival, after initially defending its inclusion.
Associated Press | National | Mar 26, 2016

China’s Vaccine Scandal Reveals System’s Flaws
March 25, 2016 7:44 am ET

India to Vaccinate Millions of Children Against Deadly Rotavirus
By Suryatapa Bhattacharya
March 25, 2016 1:47 am ET

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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 26 March 2016
China crackdown on problem vaccines nets 130 suspects
Chinese police say a crackdown on expired and improperly stored vaccines has netted 130 suspects and more than 20,000 doses of the suspect medications.
Associated Press | Foreign | Mar 24, 2016