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.

.

The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/
Accessed 21 May 2016
The Plan to Avert Our Post-Antibiotic Apocalypse
19 May 2016
A new report estimates that by 2050, drug-resistant infections will kill one person every three seconds, unless the world’s governments take drastic steps now….Meanwhile, a “diagnostic market stimulus” would provide top-up payments to poorer countries that buy diagnostic tests, in the same way that organizations like Gavi fund vaccine use in the developing world.

.

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 21 May 2016
In Pursuit Of An HIV Vaccine And The AIDS-Free Generation
In the US, many people speak of “the AIDS crisis” as though it were something that happened and is now over. We do have effective treatments, and increasingly effective means of prevention. They include new, once-a-day pills that are very effective at preventing HIV infection as long as they are […]
Science Business, Contributor May 17, 2016

.

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 21 May 2016
Stealing From Ebola to Fight Zika
19 May 2016
Nobody should be surprised when the present House of Representatives, dominated by penurious reactionaries, produces a stingy response to a danger that calls for compassionate largess. But for sheer fecklessness it’s hard to top the House’s response this week to the Zika virus. The salient feature is that in providing money to fight one health menace, it steals from other funds meant to fight an even more dangerous threat — the Ebola virus.

China Arrests 135 for Illegally Buying, Selling Vaccines
BEIJING — China has arrested 135 people in 22 provinces for illegally buying and selling vaccines, in the latest scandal shaking the Chinese public’s confidence in vaccine safety.
In an online statement Friday, the national prosecuting office said arrest warrants were issued for 125 people for running vaccine businesses without license.
It said 15 of them have been formally indicted, and two were found guilty. Ten health officials were arrested for on-duty negligence.
The accused health officials had worked at local public health centers and knowingly bought the illegal vaccines and used them on people, the prosecuting office said…
May 21, 2016 – By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

C.D.C. Is Monitoring 279 Pregnant Women With Possible Zika Virus Infections
Doctors are monitoring 279 pregnant women with confirmed or suspected Zika virus infections in the United States and its territories, federal health officials said Friday.
Of those women, 157 are in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 122 are in territories, including Puerto Rico. Public health officials are gathering data on the health consequences of the infection, including the rate at which fetuses develop abnormally shrunken heads and brain damage, a birth defect called microcephaly.
May 21, 2016 – By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr –

The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor
Eliminate the TB Scourge
19 May 2016
By UVISTRA NAIDOOMAY 19, 2016

.

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 21 May 2016
Trying to get jump on Zika preparations with money in limbo
Beg, borrow and steal: Zika preparation involves a bit of all three as federal, state and local health officials try to get a jump on the mosquito-borne virus while Congress haggles over how much money they really need.
Lauran Neergaard | AP | Washington | May 21, 2016