Many believe if the vaccine preventable diseases are eradicated from the country it’s not necessary to get injected, but the truth is none of us are fully protected from any disease until it is eradicated from the planet
As we all know immunisation is the most cost-effective way to prevent your loved ones from deadly diseases. A healthy person increases productivity and directly contributes to the economic growth of any country. However, vaccines have generated endless debate and with easy access to the internet, it’s easy to spread misinformation among the community. Hence, it’s important to evaluate the myths and facts about vaccines and immunisation.
Many believe if the vaccine preventable diseases are eradicated in their country it’s not necessary to take vaccines, but the amount of migration happening between countries none of us are fully protected from any disease until the disease is eradicated from the planet.
One more major concern is vaccines are not safe and they cause diseases like autism, cancer, affects your reproductive health and what not. Truth is, any vaccine coming to the market has undergone multiple tests, clinical trials before it gets the license.
People believe vaccines are partly responsible for the increasing number of global cancer incidence, however, vaccines such as human papillomavirus (HPV) do contribute to reduce cervical, anal, penile and oropharyngeal cancer. Although there is no evidence to show any connection between allergic, autoimmune and respiratory diseases, some blames vaccinated kids are more prone to the above whereas vaccines purely teach the immune system to react against antigens. One more interesting fact is, many believe it’s better to be exposed to disease and get naturally immunised rather than getting a vaccine. Immunity by natural infection can cause birth defects from congenital rubella or death from measles or Japanese Encephalitis (JE) if not treated in a timely manner.
An unimmunised child living a healthy life is one more argument that comes from the anti-vaccine community. But the fact remains before the Measles vaccine was introduced, 90 per cent of the children were infected by measles before they reached 10 years of age. The same applied for Polio cases, so it’s very clear vaccine-preventable disease can be nasty at times, so it’s better to be protected all the time. In some communities, people think vaccine-preventable childhood illnesses are god’s will or fact of life. This is mostly due to unawareness about vaccines and it’s very important to educate people on the consequences of not vaccinating children.
Vaccines containing harmful ingredients such as Thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound and it causes a severe threat is one of the main arguments that come from the anti-vaccine community. But Mercury is a natural element found in air, water, and soil, the amount of thimerosal dose in vaccines is much lower than the amount we are exposed to in our daily life. Giving a child more than one vaccine at a time can overload the immune system is one common concern among parents. However, no scientific evidence shows any negative effect on a child’s immune system, in fact combined vaccines reduce discomfort for the child through less vaccine doses and save money and time.
The writer is Dr Nadeera Nilupamali Co-founder & VP (Product) ImmunifyMe Healthcare Technologies Pvt Ltd