Non-profit organizations (NPOs) along with the World Health
Organization (WHO) and other governmental agencies are achieving great
strides in improving global health in developing nations through wide spread
vaccination campaigns. These formidable NGOs such as the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, One World Health, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI part of PATH)
and The Global
Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) are leading the charge to provide lifesaving
vaccinations and medications to a major portion of the developing world. For those who still sit on the fence regarding
the risks and benefits of vaccination perhaps stepping back to look at the big
picture will make up your mind.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
http://www.oneworldhealth.org/
http://www.malariavaccine.org/
http://www.gavialliance.org/
The World Health Organization estimates that the
immunization campaigns now prevent 2-3 million child deaths each year; however,
a further 1.5 million may be saved from preventable diseases by extension and
further support of their vaccination programs. The frontrunners in this fight
are determined to continue their crusade despite budget cuts in the government portions
of their funding. Recently, the first Chinese vaccine, for Japanese
encephalitis received WHO approval for use in other countries. The global
approval of cheaper Chinese vaccines could make the dispersement of life saving
vaccines and more broad ranging vaccine campaigns possible.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24519949
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/health/news/china-made-encephalitis-vaccine-gets-who-safety-seal.html
Another promising vaccine for malaria developed by
GlaxoSmithKline is heading towards regulatory approval and licensing. According to the WHO, malaria
infects 219
million people a year killing 660,000 annually. Recent phase III
clinical trials conducted on 15,000 children in 11 African countries have shown
that three doses on the vaccine can reduce the occurrence of the disease in
young children by half and infants by one quarter. This would represent the
first successfully commercialized vaccine against a parasitic disease. Due to
the complexity of parasitic lifecycles the vaccine does not produce a 100%
protection; however, used in conjunction with other control measures such as
mosquito nets and antimalarials it will be a powerful tool in the fight against
this daunting disease. GlaxoSmithKline who has been developing a malaria
vaccine for thirty years has agreed to produce vaccine at cost, plus a 5 per
cent profit margin, if it receives regulatory approval. They would then reinvest the profit margin
for further malaria research.
There have been multiple examples of successful vaccination
campaigns throughout recent history with the eradication of small pox in 1980,
near obliteration of polio (except in developing/war torn areas) and a virtual
wipe out of a number of other serious infections particularly in the developed
world.
Further support for the effectiveness of vaccination lays
in the resurgence of a number of diseases where there has been a reduction in
the rate of the associated vaccination in North America and Europe. Several
myths with no scientific merit have surfaced and influenced many people to
choose not to vaccinate their children in North America and Europe.
One of these myths: that the measles, mumps and rubella
vaccine (MMR) may cause or lead to autism has been completely debunked. The
original paper from 1998 that reported the results was retracted by the Lancet
in 2010. In fact the researcher Andrew Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of the
UK of dishonesty and flouting ethics protocols. Still the myth lives on, often through uninformed public
personalities. This dangerous misinformation from uninformed people is a
powerful example of how our media culture can be a threat to bona fide science
and public health.
http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c696
An
outbreak of Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in California in 2010 where 9120 cases
of the disease were reported were directly correlated to areas where people
could opt out of the vaccination. This outbreak marked the largest number of
cases reported in California since 1947. The researchers found that people in areas
where the exemptions existed were 2.5 times more likely to contract the
illness. These results show strong evidence that vaccination was the direct
cause for absence of the disease. These outbreaks also make the point that
choosing not to vaccinate your child is a significant threat to public health
and does not affect only your family. This choice affects the community at
large.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/09/24/peds.2013-0878.abstract
We are all in
this life vessel called earth together.
A pandemic is an ominous threat but it can and has happened. This is not the stuff of science fiction like
a zombie apocalypse. Today we face even graver possibilities for rapid
circumnavigation of a disease as we humans travel at an ever increasing pace
around the world making these tiny pathogens frequent global travellers. Often
people may travel prior to any obvious symptoms making detection and screening
near impossible. Further, more virulent strains of pathogens are emerging due
to evolutionary pressure of antibiotic misuse and an exploding global
population.
Vaccines and
global herd immunity is one of our best defensive strategies against a global
pandemic. Herd immunity happens when a significant enough amount of the
population is immune to a disease e.g. through vaccination to prevent effective
spread of the disease that could lead to an epidemic. Essentially, it means
there are not enough suitable hosts for a pathogen to propagate. The scientific
evidence to support the benefits of vaccination are compelling.
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