The US CDC has developed a series of videos to help pediatricians and other health care professionals talk with their patients about vaccines. The series is called "How I Recommend Vaccination" and has different videos appropriate to various ages. They address such issues as safety, side effects, and how to deal with vaccine hesitancy.

August is Vaccine Awareness Month...and in Maine, signature gatherers are hitting fairs, festivals, farmers' markets, and other public gatherings trying to collect enough signatures for a "People's Veto" vote next spring. They claim it's a vote for "medical freedom," and they argue that people should sign the petitions even if they believe in vaccination. Supporters of Maine's new immunization exemption law have been engaging the collectors in conversation about the issue and the referendum.

 Meanwhile, in New York, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and attorney Michael Sussman are in court (with vaccine skeptic supporters outside) arguing that the recently passed New York law (similar to Maine's LD 798) eliminating non-medical exemptions is unconstitutional, an argument most constitutional scholars believe was put to rest in the 1905 U.S. Supreme Court case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts. The State of New York has issued new emergency immunization regulations seeking to prevent a flood of "bogus" medical exemption claims as happened in California. You can read more about that story here.