Reasons to vaccinate children

Thanks to vaccines some diseases no longer pose a risk to the lives of children in developed countries, but they still exist in underdeveloped countries. Vaccination is the most important preventive measure we have , so much so that one of the dreams of the medical community would be to be able to v

Thanks to vaccines some diseases no longer pose a risk to the lives of children in developed countries, but they still exist in underdeveloped countries. Vaccination is the most important preventive measure we have, so much so that one of the dreams of the medical community would be to be able to vaccinate 100% of the population. Sometimes the number of lives they save and the amount of pathology they avoid are forgotten.

Why do we have to vaccinate children?

We know with certainty that vaccination saves lives. Some diseases that we can avoid with vaccination wreaked havoc years ago. According to data from the Ministry of Health of Spain, for example, polio in Spain caused 2,132 cases of permanent paralysis in 1959 and up to 208 deaths in 1960, the vast majority of those affected were children under 15 years of age.

When high vaccination coverage is reached in front of a disease, there is a significant decrease in the number of people infected. Conversely, when vaccination coverage decreases, the number of susceptible persons increases and the number of cases of disease increases again. When there are enough people vaccinated in the population, the protection reaches the unvaccinated people, because the microorganisms find many difficulties to advance. Before the introduction of vaccination schedules in developed countries, infectious diseases were the main cause of infant mortality (tetanus, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, rubella, mumps) and epidemics were frequent.Vaccines are safe and effective

. They are subjected to an exhaustive evaluation by expert professionals, according to international protocols. The administration may cause discomfort at the site of the injection, such as local pain or redness of the area, but nothing compared to the pain and pathology caused by the diseases they prevent. Serious adverse effects are rare.

Infectious outbreaks of diseases prevented by vaccination are not frequent due to vaccination programs. That is why some people believe that these diseases are already eradicated, that they do not pose a danger or even that vaccination is more dangerous than the diseases they protect. Nothing is further from reality.Infectious outbreaks continue to be a threat ya because if vaccination coverage decreases (for example, if there are people who are not vaccinated or vaccinated with less doses than recommended) these diseases emerge.

An example of this is the measles epidemicthat occurred in Bulgaria in 2009 and 2010, causing 24,047 cases of measles and 24 deaths. Another example is the diphtheria epidemic in the Russian Federation that began in 1990 and later spread to other countries of the former Soviet Union, with more than 157,000 cases and 5,000 deaths between 1990 and 1998 (data from the Ministry of Health).

Some diseases, on the other hand, have already been eliminated, for example, smallpox, which produced 5 million deaths every year throughout the world, was eradicated in 1978 and vaccination was suspended in Spain in 1980. Poliomyelitis is in the process of being eradicated , although it has not yet been achieved. Measles in Europe still causes epidemic outbreaks, although in the last 10 years the reporting of cases has decreased by more than 96%. The last outbreak in Madrid was in 2011, which forced to advance the vaccination at 12 months.

Vaccination is a measure of high cost

but it is a great benefit for the health and well-being of the population. Even economically it is profitable, because it is cheaper to vaccinate than the cost of the disease. It also protects against the long-term effects of diseases, on physical and mental well-being. It prevents deaths and disability, benefiting both the individual and society.