What is a vaccine, and why should we all be vaccinated?
A vaccine is any preparation that can stimulate the immune system to produce specific responses that inactivate, destroy, or suppress a given pathogen.
Thus, administering a vaccine to prevent disease is vaccination, while inducing immunity artificially is immunization. The two words are used interchangeably because vaccination results in immunization.
Many consider vaccines to be one of humanity’s greatest inventions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccines prevented over 10 million deaths between 2010 and 2015 and protected millions more from illness. Moreover, vaccines protect not only vaccinated individuals but also those around them by creating herd immunity. Protecting vulnerable individuals, such as babies too young to be vaccinated, people undergoing chemotherapy, older people, and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, is particularly vital.
Vaccine Misconceptions
Despite the proven benefits of immunization, Nigeria still struggles with vaccine-preventable diseases and perennially low immunization coverage. Moreover, peculiar challenges have continued to threaten the gains in the fight against Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. Among these challenges are misconceptions regarding vaccines and vaccine safety. The COVID pandemic opened our eyes to two major misconceptions.
Vaccines will not make you sick.
You may experience mild side effects from some vaccines, such as soreness at the injection site or a low-grade fever, but they dissipate quickly. According to WHO, serious side effects from vaccines rarely occur. Any vaccine can cause side effects. Mostly, these are minor (for example, a sore arm or low-grade fever) and go away within a few days.
Vaccines are not used to microchip people.
One of the conspiracy theories that circulated about the Covid-19 vaccines is the government or global elites like Bill Gates would use them to track citizens. Despite viral videos claiming a chip in the vaccines makes people’s arms magnetic, the conspiracy is false. Vaccines do not contain software or microchips. Therefore, they cannot be used to track people. Such a microchip would have to have an associated power source, and then, in addition, that power source would have to transmit a signal through at least an inch of muscle and fat, and skin to a remote device, which again is impossible.
Vaccination and Children
Scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals conduct a long and thorough review before giving safe and effective vaccines to children. Vaccination has eradicated some previously fatal diseases that used to injure or kill thousands of children, and others are close to extinction. Vaccines will involve some discomfort. However, serious side effects are rare. The disease-prevention benefits of getting vaccines outweigh the possible side effects for almost all children.
The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health defines a child as fully vaccinated if they receive a BCG (Bacilli Calmette Guerin) vaccination against tuberculosis, three doses of DPT to prevent diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus, at least three doses of the polio vaccine, and one dose of measles vaccine. Healthcare providers should administer all these vaccinations in five visits during a child’s first year of life, including the doses given at birth. If parents follow this schedule, their children between 12-23 months will be fully immunized.
Required Vaccines for Adults
Medical experts have advocated for better adult vaccination campaigns in Nigeria after the emergence and rapid spread of coronavirus, yellow fever, Ebola, and Lassa fever, among other infectious diseases.
The Centre for Disease Control and World Health Organisation recommends the following vaccinations for Nigeria: hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, rabies, meningitis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis), chickenpox, shingles, pneumonia, and influenza.
Summary
Vaccination is important in protecting humans from diseases. Extensive research is usually carried out before vaccines get approved for use. It is the most effective way to prevent infectious diseases. They prevent up to 3 million deaths worldwide every year. Unfortunately, anti-vaccine stories are often spread online through social media. They may not be based on scientific evidence and could put your child at risk of a severe illness. If people stop having vaccines, infectious diseases can spread again quickly.
