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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The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/
Accessed 16 July 2016
Fighting Zika Without Additional Funding
Public-health officials are strategizing how to combat the virus with no new money on the horizon—and Congress away for the summer.
Nora Kelly
Zika is here. But Congress is gone.
Lawmakers adjourned this week for a seven-week summer recess without passing additional money to fight the Zika virus. Now, federal public-health officials are weighing how to stop the spread of infections with no new money coming down the pipeline—and with further budget battles near-guaranteed in the fall. “We will do the best we can to protect Americans,” said Tom Frieden, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director. But “there are projects that will not happen because the funding isn’t available.”…

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BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Accessed 16 July 2016
16 Jul 2016
BBC Trending: India’s ‘Anti-Vaccine Mafia’
[Audio]
…A Facebook post lamenting the death of teenage boy in India – from diphtheria – has shone a light on an anti-vaccination movement that appears to be gaining ground.
Published Date
BBC World Service

13 Jul 2016
Meningitis B vaccine extension rejected
Health campaigners say they are “hugely dismayed” that the meningitis B vaccine will not be extended to all children in the UK under the age of two.
It was introduced across the UK last year for babies aged up to 12 months.
But experts from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said there was not enough of the vaccine for a catch-up programme.
A petition calling for older children to be vaccinated was signed by more than 800,000 people earlier this year…

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 16 July 2016
Suspected Congo Yellow Fever Cases Up 38 Percent in Last Three Weeks: WHO
KINSHASA — The number of suspected yellow fever cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has jumped 38 percent in the last three weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as health officials prepare to launch a vaccination campaign next week.
Congo’s government last month declared a yellow fever epidemic in the capital Kinshasa and two provinces that border Angola, where the worst outbreak of the disease in decades has killed about 350 people.
As of July 11, Congo had recorded 1,798 suspected cases since the start of the outbreak in January, WHO said in a weekly report, up from 1,307 on June 24. Seventy-five people are believed to have died from the disease in Congo, it said.
July 15, 2016 – By REUTERS –

Congress Takes a Vacation Without Doing Anything About Zika
Opinion by THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of Congress are leaving Washington for seven weeks without passing a bill to pay for the fight against Zika. Their failure to do so will delay the public health response to the mosquito-borne virus that causes birth defects, unnecessarily putting thousands of people at risk.
As of July 7, 649 pregnant women appeared to be infected with Zika in American states and territories and nine babies had been born with birth defects linked to the virus. Public health experts believe that these numbers are likely to increase in the coming weeks as mosquitoes become more prevalent, especially in Florida, Hawaii and Texas. This calls for swift action by the government, but instead, the Republicans who control Congress are trying to exploit the crisis to advance ideological causes…
July 15, 2016