The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

EVEN with the potential risks and controversy surrounding the issue, getting a vaccination is considered extremely important by members of the medical community, as it prevents and protects against diseases.

Dr Dionne Dames-Rahming, internal medicine specialist, said during the recently held Doctors Hospital Lectures Series that while vaccines cannot stop everyone from getting ill, they do a good job of preventing the outbreak of diseases in the population.

“Vaccination is administering a vaccine which can be composed of a modified organism, a weakened, a killed organism, or a part of an organism. The whole purpose of giving the vaccine is to help your immune system to generate a response so that it prevents from actually developing a disease. The prevention part, or getting your body to respond is for you immunity and that is immunisation, so they kind of go hand-in-hand. We vaccinate in hope of making a patient immune to develop a disease process,” she told Tribune Health.

The antibodies that are stimulated during this process, Dr Dames-Rahming said, are supposed to prevent the disease from developing, should the body be exposed.

“When we give a vaccine, there are specialised cells within the body known as antigen-presenting cells and basically what they do is take in that protein or that organism, break it down into pieces and those pieces are presented to our immune system which is like soldiers or policemen, and they are to protect us.

“What we also hopes happen when we get vaccinated is that we have the development of memory cells. So the next time we get exposed the body will respond quickly,” she said.

If a huge number of a population goes unvaccinated, Dr Dames-Rahming said that could mean that there is a possibility for a major outbreak.

“What immunisation does is that it makes it difficult for disease to spread from person to person. Every society – the Americans, the Europeans, the Scandinavians – have demonstrated that there has been a significant decline in the number of cases when vaccination has implementation,” she said.

There are a high number of childhood deaths related to pertussis, haemophilus, influenza, measles, tetanus in nations like Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Phillippines, Uganda and South Africa even though those illness are preventable. She said more than half of the children in those nations are not vaccinated.

Dr Dames-Rahming said 100 per cent vaccination will never be reached because there are certain people that cannot be vaccinated including those who are receiving chemotherapy treatment, individuals who may be infected by HIV, newborn babies whose systems are not working well, or those with a compromised immune system.

In order to ensure vaccinations are carried out, countries have set up a schedule. Most infants are vaccinated at two months, four months and six months, with a variation period when they reach between 12-18 months. By the time most children reach age two they would have completed 30 vaccinations.

In the Bahamas, Dr Dames-Rahming said adults require a booster for measles, mumps and rubella. Person who are also over the age 30 but have not had a Hepatitis B vaccination are encouraged to do so.

As with most medical treatment, nothing is without risks. The risks of having a vaccination is and has always been a cause of concern for those who oppose it.

“They think vaccination carries risk of life-threatening allergic reaction. The truth of the matter is, it’s 100 times more likely for you to be struck by lightening than for you to develop a life-threatening reaction to vaccination,” she said.

“You can have a severe allergic life-threatening reaction to practically anything, so there is a higher chance of somebody having a peanut allergy than having a anaphylaxis related to a vaccine. So antibiotics, food additives to different things all carry a potential risk of there being a life-threatening allergic reaction.”

Dr Dames-Rahming emphasised during the lecture that “prevention is better than cure”, especially when it comes to vaccinating.