Between April 24 and 30 the World Immunization Week, a date to continue raising awareness about the importance of vaccination, one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions, which helps save millions of lives every year.
This week, more than ever, it is intended to indicate the collective actions necessary to ensure that everyone is protected against preventable diseases by vaccination.
Vaccine without fear
The comic Raquel Sastre collaborates this year with the campaign of the Committee of Vaccines of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics to talk about the importance of vaccines. In the video "Vaccine without fear", posted on the AEP YouTube channel, Speak clearly about the false myths surrounding vaccination. For example, they do not contain mercury, they do not cause autism, and that the amounts of aluminum they contain are minute and safe.
And it's not like she says it. It is more than proven and WHO certifies that:
- Vaccines they are safe and effective: All vaccines are subjected to rigorous tests before being approved, and those already approved are periodically reassessed.
- They prevent diseases such as diphtheria, measles, mumps that do get complicated they can be deadly.
- They provide a superior immunity to those that offer natural infections.
- The more children vaccinated, more we all benefit. It is a collective responsibility.
- If we don't vaccinate many serious diseases could come back.
Not vaccinating is crazy
Raquel remembers that "not vaccinating is crazy." Why is it crazy? Basically for three compelling reasons:
- 1) because if they are spread, our children they could get seriously ill and die.
- 2) because if we stop vaccinating could return infectious diseases They have become rare like polio, diphtheria, or measles, which is in fact being a serious problem in Europe.
- 3) because if you don't vaccinate your child, it can infect and make another child sick that you cannot receive the vaccine (because you are still very small, because you are allergic to any component of the vaccine, or that, because you are sick, you cannot receive it).
Vaccines work
This year's motto "Collectively protected, #Lasvacunasfuncionado" WHO encourages everyone, from donors to the general population, to redouble their efforts to increase vaccine coverage for the common good.
Immunization prevents every year between 2 and 3 million deaths for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and measles. However, if global vaccine coverage were improved, another 1.5 million could be avoided. Global vaccine coverage - the proportion of children worldwide who receive the recommended vaccines - has stagnated in recent years.
The global vaccination coverage rate stands at 86%. It is called to double efforts to achieve universal coverage. It is considered that the best coverage, being the one that causes group immunity, is at least 95% of vaccinated children.
It is estimated that 19.5 million infants worldwide still do not receive basic vaccines, or do not receive them in full, and run the risk of contracting life-threatening diseases.
In Babies and more | Vaccine calendar 2018: these are the novelties, Manual of Vaccines for Parents: proven, scientific and truthful information about vaccines
