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Editorial

Nature 439, 509 (2 February 2006) | doi:10.1038/439509a; Published online 1 February 2006

When a vaccine is safe

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Unfounded public fears place pressures on vaccine developers that go beyond reasonable safety considerations, as the search for an acceptable vaccine against Lyme disease may demonstrate.

Nothing gets forgotten as quickly as the threat of an epidemic that has been successfully headed off. Just look at all the allegations of media hype over SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), by people who think it was not a threat because so few ended up contracting it.