The Immunization Parade on Friday 28th April, 2017 organised by Community Nursing Staff, Health Authority of Anguilla, was the final activity in celebration of the 15th anniversary of Vaccination Week in the Americas. Every year in this part of the world, since 2002, we celebrate Vaccination Week in recognition of the importance of getting vaccinated. This year’s slogan is: “ Get Vax to celebrate a healthy tomorrow!”
Vaccines prevent diseases that can be dangerous, or even deadly, and there are now at least 10 diseases (such as measles, chicken pox, tetanus, whooping cough and diptheria) that we can protect our children from before the age of two by getting them vaccinated. Vaccines reduce the risk of infection by working with the body’s natural defenses to help it safely develop immunity to disease. When germs, such as bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply. This invasion is called an infection, and the infection is what causes illness. The immune system then has to fight the infection. Once it fights off the infection, the body is left with a supply of cells that help recognize and fight that disease in the future.
Vaccines help develop immunity by imitating an infection, but this “imitation” infection does not cause illness. It does, however, cause the immune system to develop the same response as it does to a real infection so the body can recognize and fight the vaccine-preventable disease in the future.
Like any medication, vaccines, can cause side effects. The most common side effects are mild (such as redness and swelling where the shot was given) and go away within a few days. Sometimes, after getting a vaccine, the imitation infection can cause minor symptoms, such as fever. Such minor symptoms are normal and should be expected as the body builds immunity. Serious side effects following vaccination – such as severe allergic reaction – are very rare and doctors and clinic staff are trained to deal with them.
Compare this, on the other hand, to the many diseases vaccination can prevent which can be serious or even deadly. In fact, it is estimated that every year, vaccination prevents 2 to 3 million deaths worldwide.
Through use of vaccines, we have eradicated smallpox and nearly eliminated wild polio virus. The number of people who experience the devastating effects of preventable infectious diseases like measles, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough is at an all-time low. Vaccination is also highly cost saving and cost effective. Globally, the savings from vaccines were estimated in 2003 to be of the order of tens of billions of US dollars of direct savings.
In fact, vaccines are one of the greatest success stories in public health. Our part of the world, the Region of the Americas in particular, has a proud history of leadership in fighting vaccine-preventable diseases.
We were the first in the world to eradicate small pox and polio.
Before smallpox was eradicated, it was a serious infectious disease caused by a virus. It was contagious – meaning it spread from one person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash. About 3 out of every 10 people with the disease died and many smallpox survivors had permanent scars over large areas of their body, especially their faces. Some were left blind. Thanks to the success of vaccination, smallpox was eradicated, and no cases of naturally occurring smallpox have happened since 1977.
In the case of polio, while most people who get infected with poliovirus do not have any symptoms, in some cases (about 1 out of 100 persons) the infection can be very serious. Polio can cause weakness or paralysis in their arms, legs, or both. This paralysis or weakness can last a lifetime and the risk of lifelong paralysis is very serious. Even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 30 or 40 years later. About 2 to 5 children out of 100, who have paralysis from polio, die because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.
We have also been certified as having eliminated Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome. Measles is a serious respiratory disease (in the lungs and breathing tubes) that causes a rash and fever. It is very contagious. For some children, measles can lead to: pneumonia (a serious lung infection); lifelong brain damage; deafness and death. In 2015, there were 134,200 measles deaths globally – about 367 deaths every day or 15 deaths every hour.
In our region we have no such diseases for decades. These and other immunization achievements have been possible – thanks to the dedication and hard work of national immunization programs, healthcare workers and, most especially, the communities and families.
Anguilla shares in these successes and continues to maintain high immunization coverage rates of 95-100%, and no deaths from the common infectious vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination against Hepatitis B and Human Papilloma Viruses has also been introduced for protection against liver and cervical cancer respectively. Government continues to invest in the health of the people of Anguilla by providing these vaccinations free of cost with the assistance of their partners: the Health Authority of Anguilla and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
So I hope that you can agree with me that there is much reason to celebrate this week – which also marks the 40th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization. And it is wonderful to see so many coming out to support the cause! We urge you to continue to support vaccination initiatives and continue to get vax to celebrate a healthy tomorrow…
(Dr. Aisha Andrewin, Chief Medical Officer.)
