IMPORTANCE OF VACCINES

Importance of Vaccines

Importance of Vaccines

Introduction

Vaccine is a medicine given to help prevent disease. Vaccines help the body produce antibodies. These antibodies protect against disease. The vaccines are given as an injection or by mouth. Vaccines have been created, to protect children and adults from diseases that could be fatal, it is one of the easiest health tools, yet most powerful ever designed. According to Plotkin, “Immunity is a state of resistance of the body to certain substances or living organisms that attack”. When the antigens belonging to infectious agents, immunity puts the body in a state of defense against them and the diseases they cause. The human being has a highly differentiated and complex system to develop immunity. However, this may be violated. Most vaccines are drugs made from infectious agents, processed and inactivated to eliminate their ability to cause disease, while maintaining its ability to stimulate protective immune response to the vaccinated person. There are vaccines to prevent the following diseases: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Measles, Mumps and Rubella, Meningococcal Meningitis C, invasive pneumococcal infection, invasive infection by Haemophilus influenza type b, varicella, typhoid fever, Yellow fever and flu. There are several other vaccines, but their use is more limited. (Stanley 2003)

Discussion

Moulton describes that the diseases occur when the bacteria invade the body. When the measles virus enters the body, it contracts the disease. Bacteria pertussis causes this condition. (Salmon 2005) The immune system serves to protect you from these diseases. The principle of vaccination is to provide immunity against disease before it is contracted. Vaccines are made with the same germs (or parts thereof) that cause disease. However, the vaccine that contains these germs weakened or inactivated, usually through an injection. The immune system reacts to the vaccine in the same way as if it had been invaded by the disease by producing antibodies. The antibodies destroy the vaccine germs contained in the same way that eliminates germs. Then remain in the body, providing immunity. If ever you are exposed to the real disease, the antibodies will protect you.

Neustaedter argues that vaccines help the immune system of children to do their job. The child develops a mechanism of protection against future infections, such as if you had been exposed to the disease. The good news is that thanks to vaccines, the child does not have the disease to acquire immunity. Vaccines protect against twelve diseases can be serious: Measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib disease), hepatitis B, varicella, hepatitis A infection and pneumonia. You need at least one injection for each of these diseases, and for some of them, several doses are needed for better protection. There are already several "combination vaccines (like MMR and DTaP), (Richard 2002) which allow you to manage multiple vaccines in one injection, thus reducing the number of injections needed.Vaccines are usually administered at an early age because the diseases they prevent can strike at any ...