Resources

• Benefit of influenza vaccine in health care workers.
  - American Family Physician 1999;60(6).
  American Academy of Family Physicians
  Studies the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in health care workers.
• The benefits of vaccination.
  - Economist 2005.
  Economist Newspaper
  Describes a study which looked at two vaccination programmes and attempted to calculate the wider benefits in terms of protection from diseases and of costs avoided.
• Canada’s eight-step vaccine safety program: Vaccine literacy.
  MacDonald N Pickering L.
  Canadian Paediatric Society; 2009
  Immunization to control serious infectious diseases has been one of the outstanding achievements of preventive health medicine. But hand in hand with the growing success of vaccine prevention of major scourges such as polio, measles, invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease and hepatitis B has come a rise in parental concerns regarding the safety of vaccines in a number of countries. Some parents are now so troubled by vaccine safety that they are choosing not to have their children immunized, sometimes with tragic results.
  
  Erosion of public trust in vaccines seems to be occurring despite more than two decades of effort to educate the public about the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the benefits and excellent safety profiles of the recommended childhood vaccines. An expanded approach to ensure and, if necessary, restore public confidence in vaccines is needed. Health care providers who are involved in immunization delivery have a key role to play. The present Paediatric Infectious Disease Note outlines a strategy for helping health care providers increase public trust in vaccines.
• Comparing benefits and risks of immunization. (PDF: 213k)
  Bigham Mark, Hoefer Michael.
  - Canadian Journal of Public Health 2001;92(3):173-7.
  Canadian Public Health Association
  » PubMed: 11496624
  Quantifes the benefits and risks of immunization as illustrated by universal immunization programs in British Columbia against invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease (Hib), measles, rubella, and paralytic poliomyelitis.
• Comparison of effects of diseases and vaccines.
  Public Health Agency of Canada; 2006
  Provides a table comparing the side effects of vaccinations with the effects of the diseases they prevent. Taken from Canadian Immunization Guide, seventh edition.
• Effect of Influenza Vaccination of Children on Infection in Hutterite Communities: A Randomized Trial. (PDF: 242k)
  Loeb M. et al.
  - Journal of the American Medical Association 2010;303(10):943-950.
  American Medical Association
  Children and adolescents appear to play an important role in the transmission of influenza. Selectively vaccinating youngsters against influenza may interrupt virus transmission and protect those not immunized. The objective of this study was to assess whether vaccinating children and adolescents with inactivated influenza vaccine could prevent influenza in other community members. It was concluded that Immunizing children and adolescents with inactivated influenza vaccine significantly protected unimmunized residents of rural communities against influenza.
• Immunization information on the Internet: Can you trust what you read? (PDF: 512k)
  Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion; 2008
  Helps readers judge whether a website is trustworthy.
• Immunization: Get the facts. (PDF: 389k)
  CCIAP .
  Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion; 2010
  This pamphlet provides information and answers four common questions and misconceptions about vaccine safety, vaccine contents, and multiple injections.
• Myth : the risks of immunizing children often outweigh the benefits. (PDF: 175k)
  Canadian Health Services Research Foundation; 2006
  Investigates the myth that the risks of vaccinating children outweighs the benefits.
• Sickness absence following a campaign of vaccination against influenza in the workplace.
  Leighton L., Williams M., Aubery D., Parker S.H.
  - Occupational Medicine 1996;46(2):146-50.
  Oxford Journals
  » PubMed: 8776252
  Investigated whether vaccinating employees against influenza in an occupational setting was of any benefit.
• Vaccine Research, Development and Awareness: Front Line Medicine. (PDF: 2.1m)
  Globe and Mail .
  Globe and Mail; 2010
  With a proud history of health research and promotion, and ongoing contributions to the development and distribution of disease-fighting vaccines, Canada is well positioned to put our health innovation and expertise to even fuller benefit for the world and our society and economy. Coudl this be just the shot in the arm Canada needs? Proponents say yes, and are encouraging the public to tune into the benefits.
• What would happen if we stopped vaccinations?
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Emphasizes that while vaccination programs have eliminated or significantly reduced many vaccine-preventable diseases, these diseases still exist and can once again become common and deadly if vaccination coverage does not continue at high levels.