Amid a measles outbreak in West Texas and reports of the first U.S. measles death since 2015, Rice University public health, vaccine and religion experts are available to discuss the surge of cases.
Luz Garcini, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice, director of the Center for Community and Public Health at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research and a scholar at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, can discuss public health implications of vaccination, including among individuals in medically underserved areas. She can also talk about how public health access — or lack thereof — can affect trust.
“It is crucial to provide people with evidence-based information that is easy to understand so that people can make the best informed decisions for their families,” Garcini said.
More information on Garcini’s research is online here.
Kirstin Matthews is a science and technology policy fellow at the Baker Institute, where she directs the Science and Technology Policy Program and the Biomedical Research Program within the Center for Health and Biosciences. She is available for phone interviews and can discuss vaccines, Texas policy and measles.
“A combination of vaccine myths, misinformation and politics have resulted in situations where immunization rates drop, making populations more vulnerable to vaccine-preventable disease,” Matthews said.
More information on Matthew’s research is online here.
Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance and the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, is available to discuss how religion can impact individual opinions on science, health care and vaccines. She has conducted 15 years of research demonstrating how religious leaders can have a powerful impact on parishioners’ trust or distrust in science and health care, including vaccines.
“Most religious people support most science,” Ecklund said. “But congregants do often turn to their religious leaders when they have moral concerns about vaccines, so it’s vital that religious leaders have up-to-date information about science and are connected to medical and scientific authorities they can trust.”
More information on Ecklund’s research is online here.
To schedule an interview, contact Amy McCaig, senior national media relations specialist at Rice at 217-417-2901 or [email protected].
Written by Amy McCaig for Rice News.
