In recent times, perhaps fueled by false scientific publications and others for religious beliefs, many of us have chosen not to accept any form of immunization for ourselves and our children:
Whereas our fears may be genuine, the fact remains that active and passive immunizations against various vaccine preventable diseases and others such as hepatitis B, is what has helped us to defeat and subsequently eliminate hitherto “childhood killer diseases” notoriously known for killing our children. It true that today, a Ghanaian Junior High School (JHS) student, will most likely have little or no knowledge about “the six childhood killer diseases” which was a common subject treated in our Upper primary and JHS just until the late 90s.
This is a testament to the success of the World Health Organisation, WHO’s Expanded Program of Immunization, EPI which has almost resulted in eradicating the “big six” childhood killers. This pivotal disease prevention intervention of enormous public health importance together with other initiatives and interventions on improved sanitation and nutrition and access to care have ensured that children born today in low and middle-income countries like ours survive to see their 5th birthdays. Let’s put this in historical context:
Measles
Before the development of the measles vaccine in the 1960s and widespread vaccination:
- Major measles epidemics occurred approximately every 2 – 3 years
- Measles caused more than 2 million deaths each year. (Source: WHO)
Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis
- It is estimated that before diphtheria vaccines became easily accessible in the 1980s, about 1 million cases of diphtheria including 50,000–60,000 deaths occurred each year in developing countries.
- Pertussis was one of the most common childhood diseases worldwide, before vaccines became widely available in the 1950s. (Source: WHO).
Medical Science has greatly improved over the years with availability of cutting edge technology for the treatment of various medical and surgical conditions. Yet, in spite of all our sophistication the best cure for some of the most life-threatening diseases remains PREVENTION. Polio for instance has no known cure. But the development of the polio vaccine to prevent it, has rendered the need for spending resources in developing a cure as an expensive scientific exercise with little public health impact.
Our human nature and zeal to cure diseases have led to some but not a significant number of scientists churning out false publications either prior to the era of the institution of very stringent regulation of medical research or simply through fraudulent means thereafter. This has led to unnecessary heightened fear and panic regarding immunizations. These have been further deeply tinted by political conspiracy theories with threats of genocide as the fuel, in volatile political settings and conflict areas. Taking the specific case of polio: cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988. Today, only 3 countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988. (Source: WHO) These and other such factors like illiteracy, poverty and access to unverifiable information via social media among the global elite, have slowly nurtured growing misconceptions about immunizations, which seek to threaten many of the gains we have already made in times past. Twenty years ago, in a study, led by the now discredited physician-researcher Andrew Wakefield and published in the reputable medical journal, the Lancet and given a lot of media attention, the fraudulent research reported a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine — which is administered to millions of children around the world each year — and autism. Although the Lancet later retracted the paper and with autism scientists consistently proving that autism, a developmental disorder, is not caused by vaccines, the damage had already been done. This singular act of scientific dishonesty will go on to catalyse a growing movement of vaccine doubt and refusal around the world.
Following the publication there have been recent reported outbreaks of measles in communities in many parts of the Europe, Australia and the US. it is now common place for many parents of affluent societies to refuse vaccination of their children. The consequences can be devastating, threatening not only the non-immune individual but the entire community and the whole population at large. In a recent press release by the WHO (Copenhagen, February 19 2018), Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe said: “Every new person affected by measles in Europe reminds us that unvaccinated children and adults, regardless of where they live, remain at risk of catching the disease and spreading it to others who may not be able to get vaccinated. Over 20 000 cases of measles, and 35 lives lost in 2017 alone, are a tragedy we simply cannot accept,”
In Ghana we seem to face a double burden of risk of a resurgence of some of these vaccine-preventable diseases: there is a creeping culture of vaccine refusal growing among the “educated” class in the higher socio-economic bracket due to globalisation, and our inherent health system failures that is ensuring that many children in rural and urban poor areas of the country are unable to access vaccines consistently.
Curing diseases is a financially intensive. We need to prioritise disease prevention through effective vaccination of children and other vulnerable groups. Immunisation of sexually active adolescents (especially, females) for instance, can help prevent cervical cancer which is very costly to cure once it happens. Vaccines work, let’s work together to protect ourselves, our children and secure our future.
Author
Dr Lawrence OSEI-TUTU (Paediatrician, Specialist – Children’s Blood Disorders and Cancer)
Ashanti Regional President, Paediatric Society of Ghana
By: Ghana/UItimatefmonline.com/106.9FM
The post PROTECTED TOGETHER: #VACCINESWORK -World Immunization Week, 24 – 30 April 2018 appeared first on Ultimate FM.
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