Vaccinations Debate Kit Resources

The Vaccinations Debate Kit  looks at Vaccinations, and asks what the best public health policy should be.

Should children be required to have all their vaccinations before they can go to school?

The kit allows students to look at the argument from all sides; exploring the best public health policies to protect the public while balancing individual freedoms.

All the facts in the Vaccinations Debate Kit have been researched. This page is populated with references and additional information relating to the kit.

How have your students’ opinions changed?

The aim of the kit is to explore the social, ethical and political issues around vaccinations. We’ve created an online survey to help you track your how your students’ opinions change throughout the activity.

Further reading and resources

e-Bug Vaccination Timeline (e-Bug)

Students can make a personalised vaccination timeline.

Immunisation against infectious disease (GOV.UK)

The Green Book has the latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures, for vaccine preventable infectious diseases in the UK.

e-Bug Vaccinations Lesson (e-Bug)

Lesson resource from e-Bug  looking at the story of Edward Jenner and his discovery of the first vaccine.

Public Health Matters: Why vaccinate? (GOV.UK)

Blog post by Public Health England.

Public Health Matters: Fighting the flu on a new front (GOV.UK)

Blog post by Public Health England.

Public Health Matters: Getting back on track to eliminating measles (GOV.UK)

Blog post by Public Health England.

RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children (The Lancet)

Andrew Wakefield’s retracted paper in The Lancet, 1998.

NHS Immunisation Statistics, England – 2013-14 (Health & Social Care Information Centre)

Immunisations statistics for England from Public Health England.

National, State, and Selected Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 2013 (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)

Report on vaccination coverage in the US.

‘Balderdash’ – expert’s damning verdict on the latest claims of discredited MMR scaremonger Andrew Wakefield (The Independent)

The discredited doctor who triggered the MMR scare 15 years ago has pinned the blame for the outbreak of measles in south Wales on the Government…

The Wakefield MMR verdict (Bad Science, Ben Goldacre)

In medicine, “untoward incident inquiries” tend to look for systems failures, rather than one individual to blame…

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children (NPR)

Carl Krawitt has watched his son, Rhett, now 6, fight leukemia for the past 4 1/2 years. For more than three of those years, Rhett has undergone round after round of chemotherapy. Last year he finished chemotherapy, and doctors say he is in remission.

Now, there’s a new threat, one that the family should not have to worry about: measles…

Vilifying Parents Who Don’t Vaccinate Their Kids Is Counterproductive (Scientific American)

The ongoing measles outbreak in the U.S., which has spread to 14 states, has provoked a rising vilification of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. This vilification is understandable, but it’s also potentially dangerous. Many who are being castigated aren’t changing their minds. Under attack, they are instead defending their choices more fiercely and working ever harder to promote their anti-vaccine arguments and influence other parents still trying to figure out what to do…