We’re all living healthier, stronger and longer lives thanks to vaccines

Who remembers the nurse coming into their class in primary school and doling out sugar cubes?
The slightly older reader among you might even remember a time when you avoided swimming pools or public gatherings. That might sound familiar to many now, post the Covid lockdowns, but I’m talking about the 1980s and back to the 1950s. It was a time when people in Ireland, and around the world, feared picking up the polio virus.

Do younger people even know what polio is? Probably not, and that’s because now we all get a vaccine as small children. By the time we are five we will have had four doses.
The polio virus causes a life changing and life threatening disease. It can cause paralysis and, at its most severe, death.

Remember when Covid arrived and we learned about R numbers - the reinfection rate, or how many other people could be infected by one person with Covid? That number was 2 at its highest. Polio has an R number of 5 to 7.

However, if you’re living in Ireland today you have absolutely nothing to fear from polio because it has been eradicated. Infact, it’s on track to being only the second ever disease to be eradicated worldwide, after smallpox.

Since the first polio vaccine was administered, in the Philippines in 1979, 99.99% of all cases worldwide have been eradicated. It is only in Afghanistan and Pakistan where polio remains endemic - so far this year there has been one case in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan. This is down from 350,000 cases worldwide in 1988.

And this is because of vaccines.

The polio vaccine campaign has been lead by Rotary International and became the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 2009 when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $355 million to the campaign.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines a vaccine as “a simple, safe, and effective way of protecting you against harmful diseases, before you come into contact with them. It uses your body’s natural defences to build resistance to specific infections and makes your immune system stronger.”

Vaccines, or immunisation, saves millions of lives every year, around the world. The WHO estimates immunisation prevents between 3.5 and 5 million deaths every year, from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles.
There are vaccines for many diseases that once were common causes of death, including: Cholera, Ebola, Meningitis, Mumps, Pneumonia, Rabies, Typhoid, Yellow fever and more.
Scientists are also working on creating vaccines for zika and malaria.

Sadly, this genius of human scientific development has become a target for conspiracy theories and misinformation, leading to a growing distrust and the inevitable threat of these diseases making a ‘comeback.’

Readers will be familiar with the stories surrounding the Covid vaccine, from those as benign as it made people feel ill to online conspiracies that the vaccine contained a tracker.
One of the most widespread misinformation campaigns in recent years was the false report that the MMR vaccine (given to children to prevent measles, mumps and rubella) caused autism.

A 1998 report by a doctor in the UK linked the MMR vaccine to the causes of autism spectrum disorders. In the following year the report was, as UNICEF states, “labelled as dishonest and fabricated” and the doctor lost his licence to practice in the UK “due to dishonest behaviour, violation of moral and non-compliance with the code of ethics of the honourable medical profession, and damage to the health of children around the world.”

However the damage was done and the number of children receiving the MMR vaccine has fallen in recent years as cautious parents try to do the best for their children in a maelstrom of information, sadly often misinformation, as well as the perception that a disease like measles is no longer a threat.

Vaccination numbers have also fallen, in recent years, because of the shut down in many medical services or schemes during the Covid lockdown. The ‘herd immunity’ (another phrase we learned during Covid) to interrupt measles transmission comes with immunisation rates above 95% of the population, because it’s R rate is 12 to 14. In Ireland vaccination rates have fallen to about 90% of the population. We can see the result of this in the reporting of measles cases here in recent months (13 cases so far this year) and in March the HSE announced a ‘catch up’ vaccination campaign.

These days we get so much of our information from the internet and social media. We have the whole world of information in our pocket, on our phones. But, to paraphrase a superhero, with access to great information sharing comes great responsibility. Sadly, many people don’t take that responsibility seriously or use misinformation for their own gains.

Vaccines are ‘up there’ with advances in hygiene as the reasons for the world we live in being immeasurably healthier, stronger and longer-living than ever before.

Having questions and worries is normal, but when it comes to healthcare don’t go to random, social media posts which may not be based on scientific evidence and may even put your health at risk. Always get your health advice from trusted sources, like the WHO or the HSE.

As the National Health Service in the UK says: “All the current evidence tells us that getting vaccinated is safer than not getting vaccinated.”
Let’s not go back to the days when preventable illnesses were killer diseases.
Read more about the polio eradication project on www.endpolio.org