News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Yellow fever vaccination boosters, typically given 10 years after initial immunization, are no longer necessary, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of recent killings of polio vaccinators in Pakistan, some questions are being raised about the all-out push to eradicate polio, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says the world can't afford to back off on the eradication drive now.

Jan 12, 2012 (CIDRAP News) – For the first time in its history, India has gone for nearly a year with no new polio cases, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced today.

The country—one of four where polio is still considered endemic—will achieve the 1-year milestone on Jan 13, if no new wild polio virus (WPV) cases are reported before then and all pending samples test negative in the next few weeks, the GPEI said.

(CIDRAP News) – An advisory group of experts to the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed findings from an independent review committee on the agency's 2009 H1N1 pandemic response and expressed concern about findings of narcolepsy in Europe possibly linked to a flu vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – An article published by the British Medical Journal says three scientists who helped frame World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on pandemic influenza preparedness had consulted for pharmaceutical companies that stood to profit from the WHO guidance and that the WHO did not disclose the scientists' industry ties.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization's (WHO's) vaccine advisory group recently agreed to keep in place its guidance on pandemic H1N1 vaccines and discussed contamination issues related to the Rotarix rotovirus vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – Given signs that the pandemic H1N1 virus will continue its dominance over other flu strains, the World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended adding the pandemic strain as the H1N1 component of the seasonal flu vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere's next flu season.