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Vaccination is one of history’s most successful public health interventions, but progress toward measles elimination has slid backward in several previously well-protected global regions, according to Ross D. Silverman, professor of health policy and management at the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and professor of public health and law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

In a new article for the Hastings Center Report, “Controlling Measles through Politics and Policy,” Professor Silverman says that with more communities below or at risk of falling below the 95 percent immunization rates required for herd immunity—due more and more to vaccine skepticism and declination rather than lack of access—many U.S. states and countries must reappraise their vaccination policies and programs.

Silverman offers insights into options that could increase vaccination rates, including stronger laws grounded in science, better communication about the importance of immunization, as well as reducing cost- and access-related barriers.

“Increased funding is needed to support additional health communication campaigns (in person and across many forms of media) to reinforce vaccination as the overwhelming community norm, promote its benefits, and solicit and answer concerns with science-grounded responses,” he writes.

Professor Silverman’s research interests include legal, ethical and policy issues in public health and medicine, professional school admissions, interdisciplinary curriculum development, medical humanities, human rights, and patient safety.