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.

Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/
Accessed 11 March 2017
One way the Islamic world is tackling its problem with childhood vaccines
1 March 2017
By Muhammad Naeem Khan, assistant secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Around the world, some 1.5 million children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.
The problem? Most vaccines are imported from developed nations, making them unaffordable for those who need them most in developing nations. And vaccine shortages that threaten polio eradication goals in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan — the three countries where the disease is still endemic — only compound the problem.
It’s a concern the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, which represents 57 predominately developing Muslim nations, is trying to resolve by helping its member attain self-reliance in the production and supply of essential vaccines…

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 11 March 2017
Rio State to Vaccinate Population Against Yellow Fever
SAO PAULO — Rio de Janeiro state plans to vaccinate its entire population against yellow fever as a precaution amid Brazil’s largest outbreak of the disease in years.
The Health Ministry has confirmed more than 300 cases of yellow fever so far during Brazil’s summer rainy season. Over 100 of them died. Much of Brazil is considered at risk for the mosquito-borne disease and people in those areas are supposed to be vaccinated.
Rio state was not in that at-risk area for this outbreak and it has not had any cases. But the World Health Organization expanded its vaccination recommendation to include parts of the state in January.
The state said Saturday it expects to reach a 90 percent vaccination rate this year. It will need 12 million vaccine doses to do that.
March 11, 2017 – By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS –

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The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor
Bernie Sanders: Trump Should Avoid a Bad Zika Deal
By BERNIE SANDERS MARCH 10, 2017
March 11, 2017

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Measles Outbreak in Romania Causes 17 Deaths
BUCHAREST, Romania — Thousands of people have caught measles in an ongoing outbreak that has caused 17 deaths in Romania, the health minister said Friday.
Florian Bodog said that around 3,400 people had contracted the disease since the outbreak began in September 2016. He said the virus was similar to strains found in Hungary or Italy, but couldn’t say whether it was the same one.
Romania has lowered the age for administering the first vaccine dose from the usual 12 months to nine months, recommending all children under 9 are vaccinated.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control warned this week that “the likelihood of exportation of measles (from Romania) cases is high.”…
March 10, 2017 – By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS