vaccination

California public health officials would have oversight of doctors and schools with high numbers of medical exemptions for vaccinations under a legislative compromise announced Tuesday.

Actress Jessica Biel says she’s not opposed to vaccinations, but she does not support a bill in California that would limit medical exemptions. The 37-year-old has drawn criticism after appearing this week in Sacramento with vaccination skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to voice concerns about the measure. Biel posted on Instagram Thursday morning that she supports children getting vaccinated and...

Health officials say this year’s U.S. measles epidemic has surpassed 1,000 illnesses. It’s already the highest in 27 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count Wednesday, saying 1,001 illnesses have been reported since the beginning of the year. Most are from outbreaks in New York in Orthodox Jewish communities. The nation last saw this many cases...

Health officials say this year’s U.S. measles epidemic has surpassed 1,000 illnesses. It’s already the highest in 27 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count Wednesday, saying 1,001 illnesses have been reported since the beginning of the year. Most are from outbreaks in New York in Orthodox Jewish communities. The nation last saw this many cases...

Portland Maine school officials are alerting parents about cases of whooping cough. Five children in city schools, two in elementary school, three in middle school either the illness or are suspected to.

A bill to end Maine’s religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccines is heading to the governor’s desk. The Senate voted 19-16 Thursday to enact the bill. Gov. Janet Mills’ administration has backed the bill ending non-medical vaccine opt-outs by 2021 for schoolchildren, as well as nursery school and health care facility employees.

The Maine Senate voted Thursday to enact a bill to end the state’s religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccines. The bill now head to the governor’s desk.

Maine’s Senate has backed an end to the state’s religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccines. The Senate’s 18-17 vote Tuesday means the bill faces a round of procedural votes in both chambers before heading to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ desk.

The Maine Senate has dropped the religious exemption from its vaccination bill, which would require all children in the state to be vaccinated prior to attending school.

Connecticut’s attorney general has given state lawmakers the legal go-ahead to pursue a measure that would keep parents from exempting their children from vaccinations for religious reasons.

In New Hampshire, health leaders are warning the public about an expanding Hepatitis A outbreak that has killed one person and sickened dozens of others.

Facebook announced on Thursday new policies to reduce the visibility of vaccine misinformation on its platform, including rejecting advertising and excluding groups and pages from search results that spread “vaccine hoaxes.” The announcement comes after weeks of criticism from public health advocates and lawmakers who have called for action to curtail inaccurate information about vaccines, which have led to a...

Massachusetts health officials say a third child has died as a result of complications from influenza. Officials said the patient was a girl from Middlesex County. Her death was announced Tuesday. It was the third fatality of the year. Earlier this month, officials said a 4-year-old girl from Framingham and a 12-year-old boy from Milford died from the flu. Both...

Two patients at Yale-New Haven Hospital have confirmed cases of the measles on Sunday.

A case of measles was identified in a pediatric patient who visited the Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC) in Lowell, Mass. on Nov. 8, officials confirm. The Lowell CHC is working with the Lowell Health Department and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to identify individuals who may have been exposed.

A confirmed case of measles has been identified in Lowell, Mass.

Maine health officials have confirmed a case of hepatitis A in Portland. WCSH-TV reports the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention say the person stayed at two shelters in Portland from Oct. 1 through Oct. 21. According to the Maine CDC, the person stayed at the Oxford Street Shelter and Florence House.

Russian trolls weren’t just trying to cause division in U.S. politics. A new study shows they were also trying to sow discord in one of the country’s most heated debates around public health: vaccinations. NBC News reports Russia-linked social media bots pushed divisive rhetoric and misinformation on Twitter on both sides of the vaccine debate, according to research led by...

Flu killed more U.S. children in the past year than during any other regular flu season in recent history. U.S. health officials said Friday that they had received reports of 172 pediatric flu deaths since October. That surpasses the 2012-2013 flu season, when there were 171. An average season sees about 110. There were more deaths in 2009-2010, when a...

The Vermont Department of Health has confirmed an outbreak of the mumps among students at the University of Vermont and St. Michael’s College.