Community Health and Immunizations
The idea of vaccination has been around for thousands of years. There are records of the ancient Chinese people inoculating themselves against the smallpox virus4. Vaccination has helped communities around the globe become healthier and stronger. Thousands of outbreaks occur each year along with epidemics, most of which could be eliminated with vaccination. If a vaccination is available and is within means to be gotten then it should be received. It should be obtained not only to keep the individual healthy, but their families, and their communities. There are already many interventions in place to keep children and all other age groups vaccinated against common diseases.
In 2015 a large news story was the Measles outbreak, 189 confirmed cases were reported which were linked to an amusement park in California. Most of the cases that were reported the infected individual was not vaccinated2. Most vaccinations are covered somewhat under health insurances which now a lot more Americans have health insurance. The measles outbreak was only considered an outbreak because of its rapid increase in a generally close geographical area; epidemics are usually spread throughout areas3. A pandemic is when a disease has spread through several countries and infection is through a large amount of people3.
Community health can be improved by increasing the amount of individual vaccinations against basic diseases such as the flu, measles, polio, and diphtheria (there are many more). When a community is physically healthy it allows the community to strengthen its relationship, and quality of life. More events are able to take place, and people are able to come together in a safer environment. Schools have a chance to improve education because their students aren’t getting ill, and companies have a change of increasing their productivity because their employees are healthier.
Most interventions are considered preventative because when a disease becomes a pandemic it is almost impossible to save as many people as a preventative plan can. Schools, stores/pharmacy’s hold vaccination clinics, education is also being spread through social media. Learning about health and vaccination can help an individual help them selves, which will lead to the community being helped. Small steps to any plan can lead to large, beneficial results.
Works Cited:
Community Immunity. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Vaccines.gov website:
http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/
Measles. (2015, February 23). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html Principles of Epidemiology. (2012, May 18). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/ section11.html The History of Vaccines. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.historyofvaccines.org/ content/timelines/all
The news of the measles outbreak at Disneyland earlier this year gave a little scare to some of us here in Las Vegas due to the fact that we also live in a place that attracts outside tourist, and we’re only about a 4 hour drive from where this took place. I remember a couple of incidents reported of students being infected with measles in a couple of our local schools. It was more of a reactive concern due to the fact that nobody really knew how far this disease could actually spread.
As much as there was talk about the possibility of a measles outbreak, there was also much debate from people who voiced their opinions about why they won’t vaccinate their kids. Concerns range from people who believe that vaccinations are linked to autism, to people who are worried about additives and toxins believed to be present in vaccinations. And of course, people who have children too young to be vaccinated are always concerned about exposing their babies to potential carriers of the disease, whether it is at daycare, the doctor’s office, or public settings.
I couldn’t agree with you more when you said that “when a community is physically healthy it allows the community to strengthen its relationship, and quality of life.” The only issue is that when you live in a community, not everyone is going to agree with what that “quality of life” really entails. As a society, we try our best efforts to educate our citizens to take precautions to help fight diseases like the measles or the flu. Our efforts grow even stronger when serious epidemics such as the AIDS virus, or even more recent, the Ebola virus, threaten our health and even lives. All the education, interventions, and vaccines in the world will have zero effect if the individual chooses not to proactively participate with these preventions. The concept of “herd immunity,” only exists as long as everyone is willing to do their part in protecting the community through vaccinations.