Vaccines

Discuss the following statement: immunisation continues to be one of the key interventions in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Vaccinations have been used since 1796. Edward Jenner thought that people could be protected against smallpox by inoculation with a related virus. He inoculated James Phipps (8) with cowpox pustule liquid that he obtained from Sarah Nelmes a milkmaid (immunize. 2004). Since then vaccinations have been used worldwide to help protect people from various viruses and infectious diseases. However the first major incident surrounding vaccinations happened in 1955. A recipient of the polio vaccination was found to be suffering from polio. This was followed by five more cases the next day (immunize.2004) all the vaccines were then recalled. Since then the debate surrounding the safety of vaccinations and grown and many people are divided on whether vaccinations are safe and worth having. Below I am will look at the debate surrounding vaccinations.

Many people believe that vaccinations are helping to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. According to health organisations vaccinations can help reduce the risk of mortality in children. (livestrong.2013).vaccination have also been said to help prevent children getting serious disease that can kill but also lead to long term health problems. (netdoctor.2013) In the UK all children are offered various vaccinations at various times in their childhood free of charge on the NHS. This is part of the national childhood immunisation schedule. (netdoctor. 2012). For vaccinations to work effectively babies and children need to have their vaccinations at certain ages. (NHS.2013). Immunisation also helps prevent the outbreak and epidemic of deadly diseases. (netdoctor.2012). Evidence also show that even though cleaner more hygienic  conditions have help reduce the spread of infectious diseases this alone has not eradicated them fully. (immunizationinfo.2010). this shows that vaccinations are still important but also clean sanitation is also needed to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The fact that vaccinations are also a lot cheaper than the medication needed to treat the infectious diseases is also a big factor when looking at the pros of vaccinations. Treating infectious diseases cost the NHS around £6 billion per year. (bis.gov.2006).This is a bigger price than the cost of vaccinations per year (unable to find exact figure). This would support the use of vaccination as the NHS is already under a lot of pressure and has to make major cuts every year. This is an area where the NHS could save millions of pounds every year, which could be spent of other lifesaving treatments. Another pro of using vaccinations is that vaccines are regularly tested before administered. This help to reduce the risk of people suffering side effects and the vaccinations not working correctly. By doing this it means that more people will be effectively protected against infectious diseases.

Even though vaccinations appear to be very effective they do not work on everyone. For example, a full series of measles vaccine will protect 99 of 100 children from measles, and polio vaccine will protect 99 of 100 children from polio. This means that when there is a disease outbreak, the very small number of people for whom the vaccine did not work may still be able to catch the disease. (immunizationinfo.2010). this could still cause diseases to spread even if it is a small amount of people. This evidence could be used to promote the use of vaccinations as it shows that even though vaccinations are not fully effective all the time. They still lower the amount of people that could be affected by an outbreak of an infectious disease, which as a result could prevent the outbreak of a pandemic or epidemic. At the same time people against the use of vaccinations could use this evidence to say that if not all vaccinations are effective 100% of the time there is no point administering them in the first place. They is also evidence that suggest that certain vaccinations such as the MMR vaccination could have long term side effects that are not visible till the child is older. These side effects include Autism (BBC. 2006). This sparked new fears amongst parents which then resulted in the number of children having the MMR vaccination been reduced. This was then followed a few years later with a rise in the number of people suffering from measles, mumps and rubella mainly mumps. However the figures for the people who contracted mumps did not correspond which the children who did not receive the MMR vaccination. (BBC.2006). This suggest that vaccinations  do not always work however it is not clear if there is a link between MMR not working or the reduced number of people getting the MMR vaccination and the outbreak of mumps. So this begs the question are we right to subject are children to the discomfort of vaccinations and do they really benefit us as a population.

We as individual could surf the internet forever weighing up all the pros and cons on the debate of whether vaccinations are key to the intervention in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. All in all I personally believe that vaccinations are crucial in the fight against the spread of infectious diseases. I as a mother would rather put by children through a few minutes of pain while the vaccination is administered rather that watch them suffer from an infectious disease which would cause a larger amount of suffering or possibly death. At the same time by looking at the research I have gathered it is clear that vaccinations can greatly reduce the spread of infectious disease, however it is not that cure. “Unless an environmental reservoir exists, an eradicated pathogen cannot re-emerge, unless accidentally or malevolently reintroduced by humans, allowing vaccination or other preventive measures to be discontinued”. (Who. 2013). This would suggest that vaccinations are extremely important to reduce the risk of infectious diseases so should continue to be used but we should also accept that they are not the magic cure. We are likely to live in a world that is never totally free from infectious diseases