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Vaccination And Its Effects On The World 's Health Essay

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Introduction
Vaccination, also known as immunisation, involves the process in which an individual is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease through the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines do this by stimulating the body’s own immune system to protect that individual against a particular disease. The discussion of vaccinations is a subject that awakens very strong opinions, stirring up heated debate on their reliability, efficacy, and safety.
In an overview, the benefits are clear, vaccinations have been a proven means for controlling and eliminating life threatening diseases and are estimated to prevent between 2-3 million deaths each year (WHO 2016). Including the prevention of epidemics, pandemics and a long term decrease in health care costs. Life-saving vaccines, such as the measles vaccine, are becoming more accessible, meaning more of the world’s most vulnerable people especially children will benefit from this.
The World Health Organization stated;
“The two public health interventions that have had the greatest impact on the world’s health are clean water and vaccines.” (WHO 2003).
The ability to vaccinate early in life has greatly reduced the affliction of illness, crippling, and death that was once a common part of childhood, being due to diseases such as diphtheria, polio and measles (Immunology 2008 p.188).

The side effects of vaccination however definitely weigh on parents ' minds. The main controversial questions parents may have to answer are

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