- children.webmd.com/vaccines/vaccines-what-todays-parents-should-know/vaccine-guide-risks-vs-benefits/default.htm
- children.webmd.com/vaccines/vaccines-what-todays-parents-should-know/vaccine-exemption-rates/default.htm
- children.webmd.com/vaccines/vaccines-what-todays-parents-should-know/default.htm
- children.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20110329/webmd-survey-safety-biggest-vaccine-worry-parents
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Valarie Basheda Louise Chang, MD Daniel J. DeNoon Michelle Foust Laura Martin, MD Brunilda Nazario, MD
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
31-Mar-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Vaccines have long been a concern with our readers. It’s something we know from the interest in vaccine stories, particularly those about vaccine risks and side effects. We also knew from online surveys that vaccine safety has been a major topic of concern among our parents. We used that knowledge to help shape the special report: Vaccines: What Today’s Parents Should Know. The report is a comprehensive, interactive resource for parents seeking information on the vaccines recommended for their children. Central to the project is the Vaccine Benefits vs. Risks Guide, which is an interactive tool to show parents what vaccines are recommended for their children, as well as those vaccines’ benefits, ingredients, and side effects. Written in plain language, the tool gathers in one place the information parents need to make decisions about their child’s vaccinations. We also created a map of each state’s percentage of parents who refuse some or all vaccines for their children, based on religious, personal, or philosophical reasons. The map shows wide national variation in the percentage of parents who refuse childhood vaccines, ranging from 0% in Mississippi and West Virginia to 8.68% in Minnesota. In addition, we conducted an online survey of our readers’ attitudes toward childhood vaccines. The findings underscored the need for this information: the survey showed that 70% of parents were seeking news about vaccine risks and benefits, and about two-thirds have questioned or refused vaccines.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
This project involved extensive research from multiple sources– in particular, government and non-profit health agencies. We based the Vaccine Benefits vs. Risk Guide on 104 sources, including vaccine information from the CDC, FDA, Institute of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. To create the map, we drew upon data from the CDC and various states’ health departments. All sources are available for the reader to see, providing full transparency. No FOI or other public records act requests were required.
Explain types of human sources used.
As we planned this project, we consulted with William Schaffner, MD, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and chair of the preventive medicine department at Vanderbilt University, as well as WebMD’s medical editors and experts at the CDC and FDA. We also used the collective voices of our parent readers as a source. In 2009, we had conducted an online survey of parents attitudes toward vaccines that showed risks and benefits were a major concern. We also interviewed parents who have taken different approaches to vaccinating their children, a doctor who has touted an “alternative” vaccine schedule for children, and health experts who provided perspective on what the research says about vaccine safety.
Results:
This survey from this project received coverage in the broadcast and trade media, including CBS and Fox affiliates and epharm5. Most importantly, it simplifies reams of vaccine information to give parents a personalized guide to those vaccines that their child needs in a way that is unique to consumer health sites.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
n/a
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
When you’re working with a lot of data, build a team of experts who can help you identify which details are essential to your readers. Then step back and provide the reader with perspective. With so much data, it’s a matter of editing and simplifying, sifting through it over and over until it looks like it was effortless. It needs to be instantly accessible to your reader– don’t make them work hard to figure out a lot of numbers. Though journalists are often stereotyped as being averse to numbers, they can be an insightful way to tell a story– even a story, like vaccine fears, that they may think they already know.