Vaccination programs are vital to preventing pandemics
Less children have received routine vaccinations because of COVID-19 pandemic
Continuing to develop vaccines for new and emerging diseases
References
Further reading
Vaccination programs save around 4-5 million people annually from unnecessary deaths. In 1796, Edward Jenner invented the world’s first vaccine, the smallpox vaccine, and by 1980, the World Health Assembly declared smallpox to have been eradicated from the world.
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Vaccines have the power to protect people from disease and death, as well as prevent epidemics and pandemics along with their far-reaching, multifaceted negative impacts. Eventually, they can eradicate a disease from the world, protecting future generations and making the world a safer and healthier place to live.
Vaccination programs are vital to preventing pandemics
While only one disease has been completely eradicated in humans thanks to vaccinations, many more have been prevented and controlled on a large scale, so their risk to human health has been drastically reduced.
Diseases that were once prevalent throughout the population that were life-changing and sometimes fatal, such as polio, tetanus, influenza, hepatitis A and B, rubella, Hib, measles, meningitis, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), rotavirus, chickenpox, diphtheria, and pneumococcal disease, have greatly been brought under control thanks to vaccinations.
Successful immunization programs across the globe have helped us to all but forget about these once-common diseases. New infectious diseases, however, are appearing all the time. In 2007, the WHO warned that infectious diseases were emerging at an unprecedented rate. Since the 1970s, around 40 new infectious diseases have been discovered, such as avian flu, chikungunya, Ebola, SARS, MERS, swine flu, Zika, and, most recently, Covid-19.
Numerous factors are involved in the emergence of novel infectious diseases and the resurgence of established infectious diseases. Some factors result from natural processes, and others are caused by human activity.
The modern world is hyperconnected as travel is now far more accessible than it ever has been. In addition, rapid urbanization has led more and more of the world’s population to live in densely populated areas. As a result, emerging infectious diseases have the opportunity to spread rapidly through the population and cause global epidemics, even pandemics. Since 1,200 BC, there have been around 249 pandemics, up to the COVID-19 pandemic of today.
Vaccination programs are vital to controlling the spread of these emerging diseases so that potential epidemics and pandemics can be prevented. Vaccines have the potential to save the lives of millions, as well as protect the social and economic status quo.
Without vaccines, infectious diseases would have the opportunity to spread rapidly throughout the population, causing illness and even death, burdening healthcare systems and putting strain on economies. In addition, disease often has a worse impact on those of a lower socioeconomic status. Therefore, social disparities could become more pronounced without the ability to control infectious diseases with vaccine programs.
Less children have received routine vaccinations because of COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on healthcare systems all around the world. The sudden explosion of cases and the number of people needing hospital beds caused routine healthcare to be delayed. As a result, millions of children missed out on routine vaccinations.
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In 2021 alone, over 25 million children missed out on routine vaccinations, and new data from the WHO has revealed that we have not yet caught up with pre-pandemic vaccine coverage levels. Therefore, there is an urgent demand to improve the rollout of routine vaccinations. This will ensure that the children who missed out on their immunizations can be protected, as well as prevent future epidemics and pandemics.
Continuing to develop vaccines for new and emerging diseases
Research teams around the globe are working on developing our understanding of new and emerging infectious diseases. With this knowledge, it is possible to design new vaccines. With the eradication of smallpox, considered one of the greatest feats of science, there is hope that we could achieve the eradication of other infectious diseases via successful vaccine programs.
While there are many challenges to developing effective vaccines, the years of research and millions of dollars required are worth the effort, even if eradication isn’t achieved. This is because it is not necessary to eradicate an infectious disease in order to protect people. Disease control is the outcome of most vaccination programs. This is where the spread of disease is contained, preventing it from spreading like wildfire throughout the population.
As vaccination has increased, diseases have declined
The case of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how modern science has allowed us to speed up the vaccine development process. The vaccine became available just one year after the first case of COVID-19 was reported. With modern techniques, we have the tools to respond rapidly to emerging infectious diseases to produce safe and effective vaccinations in much shorter time frames. Coupled with effective immunization programs, these vaccines have the potential to control the spread of disease and prevent the deaths of millions.
In the future, different infectious diseases may rise and fall as those that pose the most threat to humanity. Vaccination coverage gives us the tools to protect the global population.
References
WHO grants Emergency Use Listing for LC16m8 mpox vaccine