Meningitis vaccination programme prompts needless scare

Meningitis vaccination programme prompts needless scare

On 27 August The Observer newspaper in the UK published no less than four articles on allegedly serious dangers associated with the serogroup C meningococcal conjugate vaccine, introduced for routine use in this country about a year ago. First, a page one banner headline (“Meningitis jab deaths ‘cover-up’’’) heralded a report that at least 11 young people had died after receiving the new vaccin...

Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates.

We evaluate the results of a field experiment designed to measure the effect of prompts to form implementation intentions on realized behavioral outcomes. The outcome of interest is influenza vaccination receipt at free on-site clinics offered by a large firm to its employees. All employees eligible for study participation received reminder mailings that listed the times and locations of the re...

Needless contraception.

The Northland emergency meningococcal C vaccination programme.

AIM This paper describes an emergency meningococcal C vaccination programme implemented in Northland, New Zealand in 2011. The programme aimed to reduce the impact of a meningococcal group C outbreak on the Northland population, through vaccination of 85% of children and youth 12 months to <20 years with a meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine. METHOD The emergency vaccination programme...

Implementing a school-based HPV vaccination programme.

BACKGROUND The Department of Health launched a national human papillomavirus immunisation programme for girls aged 12-13 years in September 2008. AIM To assess the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a school-based programme. METHOD HPV vaccination was offered over one academic year by two PCTs in 36 schools to 12-13-year-old girls, using different implementation plans. RESULTS ...