Vaccines, or immunizations as they are more often known, are safe and efficient methods of preventing infection by a weakened or destroyed virus or bacterium or lab-made protein that mimics the virus. These are formed to prevent the life of the vaccine users from death. In regard to this, the paper described the answer of a question is “Should all Australian children be vaccinated against diseases such as measles and whooping cough?” this paper presents arguments for this question analyze whether the vaccination to children is good or not for the children in Australia.

About Vaccination

Preventing illness is the primary objective of public health. Preventing an illness is simpler and more cost-effective than treating it. That’s what vaccines are designed to do (doh.wa.gov, 2022). Immunizations shield us against life-threatening infections and prevent them from spreading to others. Vaccinations have helped prevent the spread of illnesses like measles, mumps, and whooping cough throughout the years. In addition, diseases like polio and smallpox have been eradicated or almost eradicated as a result of vaccinations. Most of the vaccines are given to children to develop hard immunity that facilitates them to get prevention from early child diseases (Mayo Foundation, 2022).

About Measles

Measles is a viral illness that affects children that occurs throughout their youth. Measles, which was formerly extremely prevalent, may now nearly always be avoided with the use of a vaccination. Measles, often known as rubeola, may be very dangerous and even deadly in young infants. Despite the fact that mortality rates have been declining globally as more children get the measles vaccination, the illness still claims the lives of more than 100,000 individuals each year, the majority of whom are youngsters under the age of five (Mayo Foundation, 2022).

About Whooping Cough

Pertussis, sometimes known as whooping cough, is a highly infectious bacterial illness. Whooping Cough is transferred readily by coughing and sneezing, and it is most often associated with the respiratory system. Whooping cough is very dangerous, particularly in infants and young children. Whooping cough may result in pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage, and even death if not treated promptly (doh.wa.gov, 2022). Babies less than one year of age who have whooping cough may need hospitalization or may die as a result of the illness. Vaccination against whooping cough is recommended for people of any age. Depending on the age, a person will need a certain vaccination regimen (doh.wa.gov, 2022). The greatest protection against whooping cough is vaccination, which also helps to lower the danger to a patient, fragile newborns, and pregnant women who are susceptible to the disease.

An argument in Favor of Vaccination

Increasing and retaining universal immunity is important. Since the advent of the measles vaccine in the United States, the disease has been nearly eradicated, despite the fact that not everyone has been immunised. Herd immunity is the term used to describe this phenomenon. However, it is possible that herd immunity is beginning to wane, most likely as a result of a decline in vaccination rates. The prevalence of measles in the United States has lately climbed dramatically (Mayo Foundation, 2022). In regard to this, it can be stated that the use of the vaccination is only a process that can be used by medical professions to cure the children and ensure their family to prevent life-affecting diseases. It can be explained with the help of a discussion related to the vaccination for the children who are suffering from cough. In general, DTaP vaccinations are efficacious to a degree of 80% to 90%. Within one year of receiving all five doses of DTaP on time, the efficacy of the vaccine is very high – at least nine out of ten children are completely protected against the disease. Each year after the first, there is a little decline in efficacy. Approximately 7 out of 10 children are protected 5 years after receiving their last dosage of DTaP, while the remaining 3 out of 10 children are somewhat protected – protecting them against severe sickness (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2021). With the help of its explanation, it is clear that the use of vaccination in children helps them to develop immunity against the disease. A similar argument can be also done for cough vaccines because the available data helped in stating that the vaccination can cure more than 90% of the children that help the community people to develop hard immunity regarding this disease.

Another fact that is related to the vaccine is for measles diseases. In general, vaccination rates have been high in recent years, and measles has not been widely distributed in the United States. In 2004, there were around 30 cases of measles in the United States; by 2014, there were more than 600 cases (Mayo Foundation, 2022). The vast majority of these cases originated outside of the nation and happened in persons who were either unvaccinated or unaware of whether or not they had been vaccinated at the time of the outbreak.

Argument against Vaccination

Even though a cost-effective and safe vaccination is available for measles, it is also a fact that more than 140 000 measles fatalities were reported worldwide in 2018, with the majority occurring in children under the age of 5 (WHO, 2019). it is also a fact that a 73% reduction has been seen in the death from measles between 2000 and 2018. in 2018, about 86% of children throughout the globe had gotten one dose of the measles vaccination by the time they turned one, a significant increase from the previous year’s figure of 72% (WHO, 2019). It means the cases of measles are stills coming in the societies after the introduction of the effective vaccination program for children.

The vaccine for measles saved the lives of an estimated 23.2 million people between the years 2000 and 2018, making it one of the finest investments in public health care (WHO, 2019).

It is important to prevent the outbreak of measles from resuming. It is critical to maintaining consistent vaccination rates since measles starts to re-emerge as soon as vaccination rates begin to fall. Several years ago, now-discredited research was released that wrongly linked autism to the measles, rubella (MMR) and mumps vaccination. As per a survey conducted in the USA, the rate of vaccination decreased to an all-time low of around 80% of all children in 2003-2004, which was the lowest percentage ever recorded (Mayo Foundation, 2022). In 2008, there were roughly 1,400 cases of measles in England and Wales that were verified in a laboratory. It means the use of this vaccine is only helpful for the children only for 10 years despite providing a long-term cure to them. 

Conclusion

As per the above-presented discussion, it concluded that diseases in children in Children are rising with, therefore, the role of the vaccination I rising every day because only this is a step at the grassroots level is more effective. Concerning the question of this paper, it also concluded that there are a few issues related to the use of the vaccine because of the low durability of the prevention from the diseases that mainly affect the life of the children and increase early child mortality. But overall it can be stated that the benefits of vaccinations are more than the few issues. Therefore, it concluded that all Australian children should be vaccinated against diseases such as measles and whooping cough.

References

doh.wa.gov. (2022). Frequently Asked Questions About Whooping Cough. Retrieved from https://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/WhoopingCough/WhoopingCoughFAQ

Mayo Foundation. (2022). Measles. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/measles/symptoms-causes/syc-20374857

Sanofi Pasteur (2018). Whooping cough is widespread in Australia and is one of the least controlled vaccine-preventable diseases. It is a highly contagious and affects people of all ages. Retrieved from https://vaccinehub.com.au/disease/whooping-cough

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2021). Pertussis Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/faqs.html

WHO. (2019). Measles. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles