Expert Heidi Russell analyzes the economic impacts of relaxing vaccination requirements for children and finds that as immunization rates decline, the costs of an outbreak increase.
On October 12, 2022, Katharine Neill Harris, the Alfred C. Glassell, III, Fellow in Drug Policy, testified before the Texas House of Representatives Interim Study Committee on Criminal Justice Reform. Her written testimony addresses the committee's inquiry into policies and penalties relating to drug offenses.
Anti-vaccine advocates have been deploying a new tactic: pushing for unvaccinated individuals to become a protected group under constitutional and statutory law. Expert Valerie Gutmann Koch explores why this could threaten public health.
ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, has maintained a steady stream of violent attacks in the country over the last year. But the group may actually be organizationally weak, writes Zwan Visiting Fellow Fazal Muzhary.
From urban revitalization in Houston’s Third Ward to displacement due to climate change in East Africa, students are engaging with a broad range of policy topics at the Baker Institute this fall through internships and the Baker Institute Student Forum.
Vaccination policies are a cornerstone of public health, but anti-vaccine activists have been adamantly pushing for legislation that would weaken and dismantle the public health infrastructure, the authors write. In this issue brief, they examine vaccine policy challenges leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the future of vaccine legislation in Texas and the United States.
As false or inaccurate information about stem cell interventions continues to circulate widely, the authors write that immediate action is needed to improve patient education and safety — and to combat misinformation more broadly.
Stem cells have two unique properties that make them an appealing therapeutic tool for regenerative medicine: they can grow indefinitely and can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, including those that form blood, bones, lungs, skin, and the brain.
As the energy transition continues, the viability of our power system is at stake. Nonresident scholar Julie A. Cohn explains the need to prepare for next-generation grid technology if we are to maintain a stable, economical and secure power system.