Vaccination is an effective way to prevent outbreaks of various diseases. It allows the population to develop acquired immunity, after which people become invulnerable to illnesses. Insensitivity also applies to measles in children, both in mild and severe forms. Vaccination against childhood measles helps prevent outbreaks and spread among children, which in turn reduces the incidence among adults. However, there are controversial opinions about the safety of vaccines, which reduces the number of patients. An insufficient amount of vaccinated people poses a danger as infected persons expose others to high levels of disease. Moreover, one is greatly influenced by the news on TV, the Internet, or the radio, where one can hear different opinions about the safety of vaccines. Getting information through televisions, telephones and computers influence the decision to vaccinate against measles in children, which articulates the importance of additional research and information coverage about the safety of vaccines.
The main goal of health care employees around the world is to ensure a high level of health among the population. Physicians have responsibility for providing information about the need for vaccination and its consequences. In some cases, vaccination is necessary to avoid negative effects for the population, the economy, and the normal government’s performance. Inoculation’s importance lies in the fact that a high level of morbidity can lead to high mortality and the impossibility of the normal functioning of the economy. However, many people fall under the influence of false information and deny the efficiency of vaccines, which makes the situation worse. Moreover, the absence of vaccination can endanger not only the individual but also the environment.
There are many discussions about childhood vaccinations, with parties expressing differing opinions about the consequences for the person. Opponents of vaccination argue that it can have long-term negative effects on children. The other side claims that vaccines are completely harmless and help develop immunity to certain diseases. In turn, immunization contributes to the prevention of disease outbreaks and dangerous consequences for the health of children. There are many studies on the influence of media and information on the decision to vaccinate, which show the importance of disseminating data about vaccination among the population (Ward, 2021). It is necessary to show parents that childhood measles vaccination is not dangerous for children, but has beneficial health effects. To do this, one should disseminate additional information about the studies of the impact of the vaccine on health through the media.
An effective demonstration of any opinion or aspect implies evidence obtained by experience. In this case, namely the problem of the influence of the media on the decision to vaccinate against childhood measles, it is formulated by the results of some studies in which certain conclusions can be observed. For example, Ward (2021) concluded that there is a need for additional education for parents/guardians on the safety of vaccination. It can be performed through the media using TVs, laptops and phones, since these gadgets have a high level of information dissemination. In addition, data published in the media has a high influence on the decision-making process for an individual. Thus, additional information about safety of vaccination in the media can increase the number of vaccinated.
Further, an informational campaign can be an effective way to prevent a local outbreak of the illness. An example would be a large company or an enterprise where an outburst of a certain disease has been recorded. To prevent the spread of the contagion, one needs to vaccinate all employees, since one cannot say precisely how many individuals are already infected. In this case, management needs to take care of motivating employees to vaccinate, since the decision should be made voluntarily. Motivation may include financial gain or a desire provoked by reasoned information about the negative consequences of not having a vaccine. Moreover, one needs to present employees with as much data as possible about the drug and its properties, efficacy, and safety.
Evidence of the effectiveness of an appropriate informational campaign applying media can be the case when a disease occurs in one of the cities. Thus, in 2019, 29 cases of measles were recorded in Zurich, most of which were spread among students (Lang et al, 2021). As a result, the University of Zurich Travel Clinic, and the Health Department of the Canton of Zurich developed an information campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated (Lang et al, 2021). It was performed by offering free vaccinations to all employees and students at the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) (Lang et al, 2021). Consequently, the campaign was a success as a large number of people came. Moreover, the measles outbreak was prevented at an early stage, due to the dissemination of information about the negative consequences of the disease in the absence of vaccination.
Some studies show that there is a certain pattern in the population’s susceptibility to the media. It includes the degree of receptivity of the population to information presented in the media when making a decision depending on opinions. For example, Hansen et al. (2017) in their study concluded that if there are different opinions in the media about a certain aspect, the population is more receptive to news. In other words, if the media has only a positive or only a negative opinion about a particular product/service, it will not have a significant impact on acquisition activity if it used to be high/low before. However, if one considers controversial opinions and different information, it has consequences for the activity of buyers/patients.
One can notice this phenomenon by analyzing some of the studies showing the relationship between media perception and news content. In addition, this study provides further evidence that media coverage affects the number of people vaccinated. Thus, after the false news about the connection of the measles vaccine and autism in Denmark, vaccination activity decreased (Hansen et al, 2017). However, after that news content was mostly in favor of grafting, which increased the number of those vaccinated. At the same time, the dependence of inoculation activity on news content was observed only in the case of different opinions (Hansen et al, 2017). That is, the greater the difference in opinion and evidence provided about the safety/efficacy of a vaccine, the more people are affected by it. Therefore, it shows the significance of the impact of media coverage and vaccination activity as well.
In addition, some studies emphasize that the level of vaccination is affected only by information coverage, but not by the incidence rate itself. In other words, the better the coverage of a particular disease, the greater the impact on immunization rates. Moreover, the incidence rate itself can be both high and low, however, vaccination will depend on the context and how data about the disease is presented. It is also worth noting that the information coverage of the vaccine also has an impact on the level of inoculation. Thereby, the number of patients for the vaccine will depend on the informational context in which data about the vaccine was submitted. It includes information about the company, the drug, its efficacy, safety, and the level of use in the population.
Evidence for this statement may be the level of vaccination of the population after the media coverage of the vaccine in Hungary. Thus, the results of the study showed that the level of vaccination was significantly influenced by the widespread coverage of the vaccine in the media (Biro and Morvai, 2021). In addition to this, the number of people vaccinated increased after the information about the disease was widely disseminated in the media. However, the authors did not find enough evidence that increasing incidence had an impact on the number of immunizations (Biro and Morvai, 2021). Thereby, this study highlights the influence of information on the level of vaccination and the responsibility of the media for the health of the nation.
To conclude, it is worth noting that the media have a high influence on the decision to vaccinate children against measles. This notion is supported by evidences from studies that demonstrate this effect. Namely, there is a correlation between media coverage of a disease or vaccine and an increase in the number of people vaccinated. In addition, it was found that an information campaign aimed at drawing people’s attention to the disease and vaccination can be effective when using the media. Thus, computers, televisions and smartphones are important in terms of the impact on people’s health as ways to popularize the necessary procedures.
References
Biro, A., & Morvai, A. S. (2021). Mass media coverage and vaccination uptake: evidence from the demand for meningococcal vaccinations in Hungary. Euro Health Icon, 22(6), 887-903.
Hansen, J., Zhang, L., Klein, N. P., Robertson, C. A., Decker, M. D., & Greenberg, D. P. (2018). Post-licensure safety surveillance study of routine use of quadrivalent meningococcal diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine. Clinical Trial, 35(49), 6879-6884. Web.
Lang, P., Zens, K. D., Bally, B., Meier, C., & Martin, B. (2021). Evaluation of a measles vaccination campaign at the universities in the city of Zurich, 2019. Public Health, 195, 51-53. Web.
Ward, T. (2021). Relationship between media coverage and child measles vaccination uptake [Doctoral dissertation]. Walden University.