Discover The Importance Of Having Up-to-date Vaccination

Having up-to-date vaccination is not only important for the vaccinated individual, but it also benefits us as a community by preventing infections and thus increasing group immunity

Why is it so important to have the vaccination up to date? Although some fear vaccines, their role is to protect us. When placed in the body, antibodies are generated that act to protect us from future contact with external agents.

Thus, we avoid contracting the infection or disease against which it has been vaccinated. This is one of the most important and beneficial health measures for people. This is because they prevent and control diseases that can have fatal consequences.

Why is it so important to have the vaccination up to date?

Maintaining an adequate and up-to-date vaccination schedule is essential. It is especially so in young children, and should continue throughout life. It is not only intended to protect the person who receives the vaccine directly, but also those who are in their environment.

This is what is known by the name of group immunity, which is only achieved by maintaining the appropriate vaccination schedule. Through vaccination, it has been possible to effectively control diseases such as:

• Smallpox
• Measles
• Poliomyelitis
• Diphtheria
• Hepatitis B

The success of these programs has been such that, thanks to an exhaustive control and the application of macro vaccination campaigns, these diseases that previously decimated entire populations have been eradicated . For this reason, it is vitally important that vaccines are not considered something that is done in the childhood stage. Subsequently, a vaccination schedule has to be adjusted, to keep it up to date also in adulthood.

In this way, it is possible to boost the person’s immune system and avoid outbreaks of diseases that have already been controlled. According to figures obtained by the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of vaccines manages to prevent 2 to 3 million deaths per year.

Prevention is better than cure

It is vital that people understand and always keep in mind that it is easier and cheaper to avoid the disease. This is possible by having the vaccines up-to-date, not to cure it later by not applying the adequate vaccination. Despite the fight against disease and continued research to provide vaccines to the entire world population, there are several disappointing reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These studies indicate that, although progress has been made over the years, there are still millions of people in the world who are not vaccinated or who do not receive up-to-date vaccination. This makes the complete eradication of diseases very difficult. And this is so because they do not have access to them.

There are clear differences between developed and developing countries. In the second case, vaccination for very common diseases in adults, after 19 years of age, is very low, or almost nil.

How are vaccines given?

Vaccines are administered in a very simple way, usually through injections. Very few vaccines are administered orally, such as polio, typhoid, cholera, and rotavirus.

Many vaccines are given in divided doses. Thus, for their effect to last for years, they must be placed in various applications. In fact, they must all be administered in a predetermined time to achieve an optimal response from the body.

At present, several vaccines have been combined into one. In this way, only one injection has to be made, thus facilitating its application. This is something that already happens with  hexavalent, which provides protection against various diseases, such as :

• Diphtheria
• Whooping cough
• Tetanus
• Polio
• Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib)
• Hepatitis B

To keep vaccinations up to date, vaccination schedules have been devised in most countries. These clearly establish the vaccine, the dose to be given and the age at which it should be applied. As well as the period in which the boosters of each vaccine must be placed.

Likewise, with vaccination schedules or schedules, there should be no excuses for the population to be protected, both individually and collectively. Now we know why it is so important to have up-to-date vaccinations.