Media/Policy Watch
This watch section is intended to alert readers to substantive news, analysis and opinion from the general media and selected think tanks and similar organizations 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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Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 26 November 2106
Fidel Castro-Supported Lung Cancer Vaccine To Be Tested In U.S. Clinical Trials
Nov 26, 2016
David Kroll, Contributor

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The Guardian
http://www.guardiannews.com/
Accessed 26 November 2106
AMA head criticises ‘demonisation’ of big pharma by anti-vaxxers
23 November 2016
The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, says it has been disappointing to see a growing “demonisation of pharmaceutical companies” by the anti-vaccination movement in an attempt to promote distrust of proven medicines. Gannon made the comments in response to the NSW health department recommending reforms that, if implemented, would see parents of high-school students compelled to provide details of their child’s vaccination status, and give public health officers the power to exclude unvaccinated children from high schools during disease outbreaks…
“I’m reluctant to make the comparison between anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers, but it almost seems if you can shout louder than the careful, temperate advice from medical professionals and scientists you might get support for your non-scientific views,” he said….

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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/home-page?_wsjregion=na,us&_homepage=/home/us
Accessed 26 November 2106
Stopping the Spread of Japan’s Antivaccine Panic
24 November 2016
Tokyo’s indecisiveness in the face of controversy has fueled unfounded doubts about the safety of the HPV vaccine.

What Global Disease Threat Worries Public-Health Officials Most?
22 November 2016
The CDC’s Thomas Frieden and Susan Desmond-Hellman of the Gates Foundation on preparing for a pandemic

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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 26 November 2106
Major HIV vaccine trial in South Africa stokes hope
Ryan Lenora Brown and Lenny Bernstein
November 25, 2016
…Now all eyes are on South Africa, where researchers will begin inoculating thousands of volunteers Monday in the latest — and, some say, most promising — effort to develop a vaccine that prevents the disease. It is only the seventh full-scale human trial for a virus that infects more than 2 million people and kills more than 1 million every year.

“If this study shows efficacy . . . this would be a tectonic, historic event for HIV,” said Nelson L. Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, which led the Thailand study.
Should the vaccine prove to be 50 percent to 60 percent effective, experts say, that would be sufficient for drugmakers Sanofi Pasteur and GSK to begin licensing negotiations with the South African government. While such a rate is well below the acceptable margin for other vaccines, it would still make this one worth producing here — given that nearly 1 in 5 people are infected…

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Think Tanks et al

Council on Foreign Relations
http://www.cfr.org/
Accessed 26 November 2106
Interactive Map: Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks
24 November 2016
This interactive map visually plots global outbreaks of measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, rubella, and other diseases that are easily preventable by inexpensive and effective vaccines. Red triangles indicate attacks on vaccinators and healthcare workers, as well as announcements from both governments and non-state actors that have had an impact—either positive or negative—on the successful implementation of vaccination programs. The Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations has been tracking reports by news media, governments, and the global health community on these outbreaks since the fall of 2008