IMMUNIZATION - A LIFE SAVING INTERVENTION.

Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine.

Vaccines stimulate the body’s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.

Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases and is estimated to avert between 2 and 3 million deaths each year.

It is one of the most cost-effective health investments, with proven strategies that make it accessible to even the most hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations.

It has clearly defined target groups; it can be delivered effectively through outreach activities; and vaccination does not require any major lifestyle change.

Immunizations are often widely stated as less risky and an easier way to become immune to a particular disease than risking a milder form of the disease itself. They are important for both adults and children in that they can protect us from the many diseases out there.

Immunization not only protects children against deadly diseases but also helps in developing children's immune systems.

Through the use of immunizations, some infections and diseases have almost completely been eradicated throughout the United States and the World. One example is polio.

Thanks to dedicated health care professionals and the parents of children who vaccinated on schedule, polio has been eliminated in the U.S. since 1979. Polio is still found in other parts of the world so certain people could still be at risk of getting it.

This includes those people who have never had the vaccine, those who didn't receive all doses of the vaccine, or those traveling to areas of the world where polio is still prevalent.

Your immune system helps your body fight germs by producing substances to combat them. Once it does, the immune system "remembers" the germ and can fight it again.

Vaccines contain germs that have been killed or weakened. When given to a healthy person, the vaccine triggers the immune system to respond and thus build immunity.

Before vaccines, people became immune only by actually getting a disease and surviving it. Immunizations are an easier and less risky way to become immune.

Immunizations impose what is known as a positive consumer externality on society.

In addition to providing the individual with protection against certain antigens it adds greater protection to all other individuals in society through herd immunity .

Because this extra protection is not accounted for in the market transactions for immunizations we see an undervaluing of the marginal benefit of each immunization.

This market failure is caused by individuals making decisions based on their private marginal benefit instead of the social marginal benefit.

Society’s undervaluing of immunizations means that through normal market transactions we end up at a quantity that is lower than what is socially optimal.

Immunizations work by stimulating the immune system, the natural disease-fighting system of the body.

The healthy immune system is able to recognize invading bacteria and viruses and produce substances (antibodies) to destroy or disable them. Immunizations prepare the immune system to ward off a disease.

To immunize against viral diseases, the virus used in the vaccine has been weakened or killed.

To immunize against bacterial diseases, it is generally possible to use only a small portion of the dead bacteria to stimulate the formation of antibodies against the whole bacteria.

In addition to the initial immunization process, it has been found that the effectiveness of immunizations can be improved by periodic repeat injections or "boosters.

Immunisation is a simple and effective way to protect your child from serious diseases. By immunising your child, not only do you give them the best start to a healthy future but you help protect the broader community by minimising the spread of disease.

Unfortunately, some babies are too young to be vaccinated and others may be ineligible due to allergies, illness or weakened immune systems. By having your own children immunised, you help protect these individuals also.

When you vaccinate a child against a disease, you teach the immune system by mimicking a natural infection.

The body cannot tell that the vaccine virus is weakened, and it engulfs the virus as if it were dangerous.

It then creates antibodies to fight the disease, quickly clearing the virus. What remains is a series of cells designed to fight against future infection.

Should your child come into contact with the disease for real, their immune system is able to respond effectively, preventing the disease developing or greatly reducing its severity.

As medical science advances, it’s possible for people to be protected from an increasing number of diseases.

Some diseases which once injured or killed thousands of children have been eliminated entirely.
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