Get vaccinated – the way to go to curb disease, even cancer
AN estimated 1.5 million deaths could be avoided if global vaccination coverage improved.
This was according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which – in light of World Immunisation Week this week – said that today there were still 19.4 million unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world.
World Immunisation Week – held each April – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
This year the week is themed, #VaccinesWork.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Centre for Vaccines and Immunology explained that vaccines worked by exposing the body to a small but safe amount of the germ causing the disease. This allowed the body’s immune system to build a defence against the germ, so that it was prepared when next exposed.
This year also marks the halfway point in the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) – endorsed by 194 member states of the World Health Assembly in May 2012 – which aims to prevent millions of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases by 2020 through universal access to immunisation.
“Despite improvements in individual countries and a strong global rate of new vaccine introduction, all of the targets for disease elimination – including measles, rubella, and maternal and neonatal tetanus – are behind schedule. In order for everyone everywhere to survive and thrive, countries must make more concerted efforts to reach GVAP goals by 2020,” the WHO said.
World Immunisation Week also coincides with African Vaccination Week, and Dr Vuyo Gqola, of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gens) echoed the WHO sentiment and call, encouraging people to get their children vaccinated.
The theme for this year’s African Vaccination Week campaign is: “Vaccines protect everyone, get vaccinated”, emphasising that personal health and community health are deeply interrelated.
“When people get vaccinated against a particular disease, they are not only protecting themselves, but are also helping to protect their communities. This is because the more people who are immune to a disease, the slower it spreads – even among those who do not have immunity.
“The medical progress that has been made in the prevention of diseases through vaccinations is truly remarkable, and we are fortunate to live in a time when we have access to these life-saving resources.
“Let us not forget that measles and polio were once common conditions, which are now relatively uncommon thanks to vaccination programmes,” Gqola noted.
During 2015, 116 million infants worldwide received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine, protecting them against infectious diseases that can cause serious illness and disability, or be fatal. By 2015, 126 countries had reached at least 90% coverage of DTP3 vaccine.
In the case of measles, one of the leading causes of death among young children, the WHO said that in 2015, there were 134 200 measles deaths globally – about 367 deaths every day or 15 deaths every hour.
However, according to their figures, measles vaccinations have resulted in a 79% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015 worldwide.
Locally, the South African National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) schedule includes vaccines against 11 potentially life-threatening diseases, with dosing recommendations between birth and 12 years old.
In 2014, the South African Department of Health also rolled out a schoolbased Human Papillomavirus (HVP) vaccination campaign for the prevention of cervical cancer, aimed at all girls aged 9 years and older in Grade 4.
Gqola said there was an established link between certain strains of HPV and cervical cancer, which is a leading cause of death for women in South Africa.
“The girls who have received the HPV vaccine will have a considerably reduced risk of developing cervical cancer and several other types of cancer,” she added.
Gqola continued: “We are likely to start seeing the positive impact of this campaign in the next 15 to 20 years, when the first generation of girls to have received the HPV vaccination will reach the age where these types of cancer are more likely to develop”.
But, some vaccines do carry risk and potential side-effects which vary in severity from person to person.
Gqola said: “The risks associated with vaccinations are extremely rare, and are hugely outweighed by the risks of developing the disease itself if one is not vaccinated.
“Talk to your family practitioner about which vaccinations you and your children should have, as a tiny percentage of people are severely allergic to certain ingredients contained in some types of vaccine,” she advised.