Vaccines and Immunizations

Audiovisual

These sources provide informative and authoritative discussions of difficult and divisive issues associated with vaccines and immunizations in effective and important formats.

Individual Freedom vs. Community Responsibility: The Vaccine Paradigm. Durham, NC: Duke University Medical Center, Depart. Of Medicine, 1999. [Videorecording.] QW805.IN2 1999 Duke Medical Center Library, Second Floor, television and VCRs are next to computers on second floor.

Presentation by Samuel Katz, a vaccinologist at Duke. He gives a brief history of the discovery of vaccines and the implementation of immunization requirements in the U.S. Most of his presentation is an argument for the importance of compulsory immunization (state) laws in the U.S. He argues against anti-government groups in the United States that oppose these laws because they object to government interference in any sphere of life, and against groups that overstate harmful side-effects of vaccines. He also discusses immunization failures in developing countries and the spread of diseases through air travel.

1. Chicago Public Radio, Worldview: Infectious Diseases: “Infectious Diseases: Vaccinating HIV,” 12 June 2003, <http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/diseases.asp> (15 October 2003).

2. Chicago Public Radio, Worldview: Infectious Diseases:“Tetanus – A Silent Killer in the Developing World,” 16 June 2002, <http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/diseases.asp> (15 October 2003).

3. Chicago Public Radio, Worldview: Infectious Diseases: “Eradicating Polio,” 16 June 2002, <http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/diseases.asp> (15 October 2002).

Available at: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/diseases.asp

To listen to these audio interviews, go to the Web site, then scroll down and you will see these titles, next to which are “audio” icons, on which you will click to listen to a particular program. You will need a (free) RealPlayer 8 to listen: http://www.real.com/.

From Chicago Public Radio, these are three very interesting audio interviews with public health workers and doctors and fund-raisers who talk about vaccines and immunization programs in the developing world. In each interview the discussion covers a wide range of issues and problems associated with disease and vaccination in developing countries, from social and cultural to economic, cultural, historical, and political, to research and funding. The discussions of organizational challenges facing public health officials in implementing immunization programs in developing countries are especially informative.