The Importance Of Vaccination

Protecting a child’s health is very important to parents! That is why they should vaccinate them as young children. All children should be required to have vaccinations in order to start school in every state. Each year about 85% of the world’s youth receive vaccines that protect them against several diseases like tuberculosis, pneumococcus, and many more. Even with great success and improvements with vaccinations, more than 3 million people die each year from

Vaccines are one of most successful and cost effective public health preventive tool in current century for preventing communicable diseases. According to UK Health Protection Agency (HPA), vaccination is the second most effective public health intervention worldwide. Immunization protects the individual as well the community from serious diseases. Since the implementation of immunization there has been a 95% reduction in the cases 4. According to WHO immunization prevented 2million deaths worldwide.

Can you imagine life without vaccine? In the reading "Not Being Vaccinated is not Acceptable" by David Ropeik argues that we should all get vaccinated because it’s necessary. Vaccinations are designed to help us go through our daily everyday life. A vaccine is a modern type of medicine that has been added to the world early on in life to prevent us all from diseases. It is called a modern medicine because of how many lives it has saved throughout the world. The earliest documented examples of vaccination are in the 17th century from India and China, people infected with smallpox were used to protect against the diseases. Vaccine have become better, to where they are safer for the human body. Vaccinations protect you and everyone around you, saves public money, protects future generations and it’s reliable.

Many infectious diseases that once quickly spread and easily killed have been controlled or eradicated due to vaccinations. The efficacy of vaccines in reducing morbidity and mortality, particularly in children, is undeniable. Per the World Health Organization, childhood vaccinations prevent approximately 2-3 million deaths per year worldwide (WHO, 2016). In the United States, the value of immunizations is clearly displayed by comparing pre-vaccine era morbidity/mortality rates to post-vaccine era in regards to vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, prior to the diphtheria vaccine in the 1920’s, 206,000 people annually contracted the disease resulting in 15,520 deaths (History of Vaccines, 2009). However, between 2004 and 2014, only

Despite significant progress in the fight against preventable disease, millions still die needlessly each year. According to UNICEF, originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a vaccine preventable disease is responsible for 2 million fatal infections worldwide each year. About 75% of these deaths occur in children under five years of age. (N) In more vivid terms, UNICEF notes that vaccine-preventable diseases kill a child every 20 seconds. (D) Due to high rates of childhood vaccination, the United States has experienced a dramatic reduction in such deaths. A comparison of the years 1950 and 2010 clearly illustrates the benefits of vaccinations. During this 60-year period, deaths from diphtheria reduced from 410 to 0, tetanus from 336 to 3, pertussis from 1,118 to 26, and polio from 1,904 to 0. Measles deaths dropped from 468 in 1950 to 0 in 2008, the last year a United States death rate was recorded. It’s not surprising that vaccinations have been touted as one of the top ten health achievements of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“In 2011 alone, 1.5 million children died [worldwide] from diseases preventable by currently recommended vaccines” (“Immunization” 2). The magnitude of this tragedy is in part caused by the fact that some of those children simply weren’t reached by organizations like UNICEF, which aim to vaccinate children (“Immunization” 2). However, there are other reasons for the recent deaths and epidemics—such as the whooping cough epidemic of 2012, with 48,000 cases nationally in the United States—involving vaccine preventable diseases (McClay 1).

According to the World Health Organization, one in ten infants worldwide did not receive any vaccinations in 2016 (Fadela). Additionally, many children receive their first round of vaccinations, but they do not continue with the additional rounds. Without vaccinations, children are at risk for potentially fatal illnesses. A child is exposed to viruses every single day, whether the child goes into a public setting or an infected person visits his or her home. Vaccinations are important for the protection of a child’s undeveloped immune system and preventing a child from diseases.. While parents may have multiple reasons for deciding against vaccinating their children, these children face serious medical

Although the topic of vaccines and completing all recommended vaccine series can sometimes be difficult for some parents to comprehend, proper education and evidence based research can facilitate the goal of vaccinating children as adequately as possible. In recent years, the number of vaccines has increased. Children who are not immunized can readily transmit vaccine-preventable diseases throughout

Vaccines are considered the number one health achievement of the twentieth century ("Achievements in Public Health”). Mass vaccinations and the herd immunity they provide are believed to have saved countless lives since their introduction. On average it takes the body a week or longer to detect, identify, and build up antibodies to unknown microbes. For some diseases a week is long enough to inflict lasting

Vaccinations are considered to be one of science’s greatest feats. The World Health Organization estimates that immunization prevents 2 million deaths worldwide and according to Immunize BC, “[vaccinations] have saved more lives in Canada than any other medical intervention in the past 50 years”. Vaccinations work by transmitting a small amount of germs - or parts of a germ- into the patient. These germs cause the body to create antibodies in order to rid and protect the body of the foreign intruder. The germs are consequently destroyed and the antibodies remain in your body, now prepared to protect the body if it comes in contact with the full blown disease. As of now, the only disease that has been eradicated is smallpox, thus saving 5 million lives annually (Immunize BC, 2012). The constant research and observation of vaccines and their consequent role in immunization have led to the suppression of occurrences of various diseases. Epidemics of diseases such as measles and whooping cough, that prevailed less than 100 years ago have decreased to rare cases scattered around the continent.

In contrast, a positive aspect of many people having vaccinations is herd immunity. Herd immunity is the occurrence where a large proportion of a specific population is vaccinated to provide them immunity, and as a result, it also gives some protection to the people of the population who have and yet developed immunity. This happens as the a large group of vaccinated individuals are protected from a virus and creates difficulty for the it to spread because there is only a small percentage of the population left that could be infected by the disease. It is a very crucial aspect of immunity for the community as the people who cannot receive vaccinations (i.e. people with weak immune systems, very young children and patients who are too ill)

Ragan & Duffy (2012, p.23) have also shown high immunization rates have resulted in a substantial decline in vaccine preventable diseases, particularly vaccination has eliminated smallpox worldwide. In addition, in a study by Bawah, Phillips, Adjuik & smith et al (2010, p.95) found that vaccination has resulted in a large and statistically significant reduction child mortality. The risk of dying for children younger than five who are fully immunized is reduced by more than 70% compared with those who are not immunized or partially immunized. Moreover, research by Dawson (2011, p.1032) also suggests that vaccination is a vital intervention in reducing illness and death rates in children and he estimated approximately 2.5 million deaths could be prevented each year by vaccination. In addition to personal immunity Vaccination programs also bring herd immunity which ensures even greater protection for the community from communicable diseases. The level of vaccination required to provide herd immunity varies with virulence and transmissibility as well as vaccine efficacy. While vaccinating

Vaccine-preventable diseases cause important health, societal, and economic burdens worldwide. Morbidity and mortality from vaccine preventable diseases occur primarily in poor countries. It has been estimated that out of the approximately 162 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) that have been lost around the world from vaccine-preventable diseases, over 90% occurred in low income countries(2). Additionally, it was estimated that 87% of the 2.5 million deaths of children under 5 years of age worldwide have occurred in poor areas of the world(2).

Foremost, the importance of vaccines has long been ignored in the developing world. 3 million people still die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year, finds the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  (Global Immunization: Worldwide Disease Incidence).  Vaccines have the potential to preclude most of these deaths and save millions of people. Case in point, Paul Wilson, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Columbia University, argued that, “wider use of available vaccines could help avert a further two million deaths annually in children under five years,” (2).  Additional aspects of vaccines in the developing world are their availability and coverage. Rebecca Casey, of the Global Immunization Division of the CDC, concurred that it is to be expected, that major discrepancies in vaccine coverage exist between first and third world countries, even though third world countries would see the most benefits with wider vaccine coverage (1270).  This imbalance of coverage between regions leaves millions of people vulnerable to hazardous diseases they have no defense against, without vaccines.

With immunization, a country’s growth can be boosted, as immunization makes economic sense. Though there are some challenges in being able to vaccinate all target children, UNICEF has made major initiatives and major progress.