August is National Immunization Awareness Month!

 August is National Immunization Awareness Month, a time to focus on the importance of vaccinations throughout the lifespan to prevent serious diseases.

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has some excellent teaching materials available for sharing, particularly these infographics on vaccine science & safety.

If you'd like to learn more about how vaccines are developed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), here's an exhaustive (and kind of boring, which is how I like my science to be) explanation of the process.

Addressing the vaccination gap

Recently, we've been hearing a lot about how this is becoming a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."  But why are there still so many unvaccinated people?  It's tempting to believe they're all anti-vaxxers, and dis/misinformation are still a problem.  But a bigger problem is access.  Yes, the vaccines are free, but what about time off work, childcare, and transportation to and from the vaccine site?

Atlantic writer Ed Yong interviewed Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH, a pediatrician and public health advocate for this excellent article that takes a deeper look into this issue.

Dr. Rhea Boyd, photo from https://rheaboyd.com/about/