By Ogechi Obi. DLHA Volunteer and Freelance writer, with medical review and editorial support by the DLHA Team.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Introduction
Immunisation is an important medical intervention and good evidence over several centuries has affirmed the multiple roles it has played across the globe in preventing diseases and saving lives. (1)
Indeed, to the credit of immunisation, some diseases like smallpox that were once feared are now extinct or easily manageable.
But new and emerging diseases that threaten humanity continue to be identified. This makes immunization even more crucial for every child globally including Nigeria.
In this piece, you will learn about
Vaccines used in immunisation programs help to protect and prevent infections from micro-organisms thereby ensuring your child can live a healthy and disease free life.
When infectious organisms are present in the body, they can reduce the level of antibodies that offer protection against the specific infectious agent and other disease pathogens.
For example, a 2019 study found that the measles virus caused the elimination of up to 73% of antibodies in infected individuals and contributed to immune memory loss (amnesia). (2)
In this context, measles vaccination can help prevent proneness to measles infection but also to other infectious diseases thereby eliminating immune memory loss.
Providing routine immunisation for your child would help prevent recurrent infections and allow for healthy childhood growth and development.
Although immunisation has helped to rid the world of some very serious and debilitating diseases like small pox, it has also helped to reduce the severity of some of the currently existing or newly emerging vaccine-preventable diseases.
For example, in a more recent 2023 study, researchers found that vaccination against Covid-19 reduced both the severity and duration of long covid. (3)
By vaccinating your child, you can rest assured that even if the child were to be exposed to a vaccine-preventable disease, the risk of contracting a severe illness will be greatly reduced if not totally eliminated.
Childhood immunisation prevents against unnecessary deaths and disability and has helped women in developing countries to plan their families with consequent health, economic and social benefits.
Vaccines have been shown to annually prevent nearly 6 million deaths globally (4) and have caused the reduction of disease-associated disabilities in children.
A good example is measles which is known to be a prime cause of blindness, deafness and some forms of mental disability among surviving children.
Immunisation against measles helps to diminish or eliminate these known disabilities that reduce the quality of life of infected children.
Other than preventing millions of deaths each year, routine immunisation has economic benefits too.
It helps to prevent the occurrence of diseases, which otherwise would lead to medical expenses through buying medications, hospitalization bills, and lost wages – due to not being able to work when your child is sick.
In most low and middle-income countries like Nigeria, medical expenses are paid out-of-pocket and this could become a financial burden for the majority who cannot afford to pay. Many people are thrown into poverty after paying hospital bills.
It is better to receive immunization than to treat the disease itself because immunization is cost-effective.
The annual return on investment in vaccination in low and middle income countries has been calculated to be between 12% and 18% (4) or forty four times the cost.(5)
In another study, the social and economic benefits of 10 common vaccines were estimated globally to be $820 billion from 2001 to 2020. (6)
Vaccination leads to increased life expectancy. A long and healthy life is a prerequisite for growing wealth, and wealth promotes health.
Herd immunity is also known as community immunity.
Herd immunity occurs when a large percentage of the population is immune to infectious diseases. This makes it difficult for the disease to spread across the community from person to person.
To achieve herd immunity, all persons eligible for a vaccine uptake are encouraged to receive immunisation to help those who are not vaccinated (see figure 1).
Figure 1: Herd immunity explained. Click on image to enlarge.
Individuals with certain health conditions who are immunocompromized, like HIV, are not given vaccines.
So, they depend on the immunity of other community members to survive during disease outbreaks.
Other than vaccination, natural immunity and pre-exposure to the disease can confer herd immunity.
This type of immunity is mostly successful for human-to-human infectious diseases where the population of susceptible individuals is small.
The more contagious an infection, the larger the population needed to be immune to achieve herd immunity.
Routine immunisation provides immunity for the community and can lead to the complete eradication of the disease.
The common and general side effects your child may experience after immunization include soreness and redness of the injection site and low-grade fever.
These effects usually disappear after a few days following the injection.
Other rare and serious side effects such as seizure, vomiting, brain damage, or death may occur.
These events are uncommon and can occur in immunocompromised individuals and those who are allergic to components used in the production of the vaccine.
The various side effects that have been associated with some specific vaccines are detailed in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Listing possible side effects of some specific childhood vaccination. Adapted from CDC. (7) Click on image to enlarge.
The benefits of routine immunisation cannot be overstated. It is the wish of every parent to have a healthy child, and vaccination is one important way to keep your child free from infections and diseases.
There are misconceptions and misinformation that the presence of thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound used as a preservative in some vaccines, causes the development of autism in children. These have increased negative beliefs and prevented many individuals from accepting vaccination.
There is no scientific evidence that vaccine uptake causes autism.
The claim of any association between autism and vaccine is a myth. (9) The period of diagnosis of autism, which is typically during childhood and after the age of immunization, may contribute to such claims and beliefs.
An individual is more at risk for serious and life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases, including deaths, than from side effects of vaccines.
1. World Health Organization. A brief history of vaccination. (n.d). Accessed July 20, 2023. Available from here.
2. Mina MJ, Kula T, Leng Y, Li M, de Vries RD, Knip M, Siljander H, Rewers M, Choy DF, Wilson MS, Larman HB, Nelson AN, Griffin DE, de Swart RL, Elledge SJ. Measles virus infection diminishes preexisting antibodies that offer protection from other pathogens. Science. 2019 Nov 1;366(6465):599-606. doi: 10.1126/science.aay6485. Available from here.
3. Tran V-T, Perrodeau E, Saldanha J, et al. . Efficacy of first dose of covid-19 vaccine versus no vaccination on symptoms of patients with long covid-19: target trial emulation based on ComPaRe e-cohort. BMJ Med2023;2:e000229. doi:10.1136/bmjmed-2022-000229. Available from here.
4. Andre FE, Booy R, Bock HL, Clemens J, Datta SK, John TJ, Lee BW, Lolekha S, Peltola H, Ruff TA, Santosham M, Schmitt HJ. Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide. Bull World Health Organ. 2008 Feb;86(2):140-6. doi: 10.2471/blt.07.040089. Available from here.
5. Ozawa S et al; Return On Investment From Childhood Immunization In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, 2011–20, HEALTH AFFAIRS 35, NO. 2 (2016): 199–207. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1086. Available from here.
6. Nandi A, Shet A. Why vaccines matter: understanding the broader health, economic, and child development benefits of routine vaccination. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2020 Aug 2;16(8):1900-1904. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2019.1708669. Available from here.
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Possible side effects from vaccines. Last updated April 2 2020. Accessed July 18, 2023. Available from here.
8. NHS. BCG (Tb) Vaccine side effects. [Internet. Last reviewed April 22, 2019]. Accessed: July 19, 2023. Available from here.
9. Gabis LV, Attia OL, Goldman M, Barak N, Tefera P, Shefer S, Shaham M, Lerman-Sagie T. The myth of vaccination and autism spectrum. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2022 Jan;36:151-158. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2021.12.011. Available from here.
Related: Childhood Vaccines and Routine Immunization In Nigeria.
Published: July 21, 2023
Last update: August 1, 2024
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