Russia's Health Ministry proposes banning public calls for vaccination avoidance

The Russian federal Health Ministry is developing a bill that would prohibit publicly expressing encouragement for vaccine avoidance, TASS reported. The vice chair of the ministry, Tatiana Yakovleva, said groups that discourage vaccination have “decreased the effectiveness” of the country’s disease prevention efforts to “below their full potential.” According to Interfax, the ministry hopes to enable websites that discourage readers from seeking vaccination to be blocked while introducing administrative penalties for sharing their content.