Introduction
The spread of influenza is a major cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. Influenza vaccine is an effective treatment to prevent the vulnerability of the disease. This paper presents what is influenza vaccine is, its use, the benefits of the influenza vaccine, and the risk factors due to the vaccination.
Influenza Vaccine
The first incidence of influenza was reported in the 16th century and the etiological causes of influenza were discovered in 1933. The various flu pandemic in history is Asiatic flu, Spanish flu, Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, swine flu, etc. “Vaccination is the process of administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person or animal, with the intent of conferring immunity against a targeted form of a related disease agent.” (Science reference, 2009, Vaccination, para.1).
Influenza vaccination is an effective method in the prevention and eradication of the influenza virus that causes these various flues. Some people have a higher risk of infecting influenza and the people who are supposed to take vaccine each year are children whose age is from 6 months to 18 years, children who have a high risk of severe diseases, and the caregivers of the people who are affected by influenza. Some people must get vaccination each year. They are those who are above 50 years old, those who have chronic lung and heart illness, those who suffer from sickle cell anemia, caregivers of patients who are affected by these diseases, those who have low immunity power, and pregnant women. Around 36,000 people die in the United States due to influenza per year and most of them are old people. The researchers have framed some approaches to mitigate the death rate of old people due to influenza. The different approaches are: make sure that all the old people are getting a vaccination, provide vaccination identifying the riskiest old people, and use antiviral drugs more aggressively among the old people.
Benefits of influenza vaccination
Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world and vaccination against influenza brings more benefits to people. Infection of influenza causes people to spend more cost on health care and low level of productivity. But vaccination helps people to reduce health care costs and helps not to lessen productivity. People are protected from the flues after two weeks of vaccination. There are five benefits of vaccination. They are “it reduces the number of episodes of upper respiratory illness by 25 – 34%; it reduces days of sick leave from work due to upper respiratory illness by 32 – 43%; it reduces work absenteeism due to illness by 36%; it reduces physician office visits for upper respiratory illness by 34 – 44%; it reduces antibiotic use for influenza-associated illnesses by 25%.” (Economical benefits of influenza vaccination, 2009, Five reasons to provide influenza vaccination, para.1).
Vaccination is an effective treatment to prevent the pandemic of influenza and it manages to prevent 70 to 90 percent influenza incidence among healthier people who are below 65 years old. “In addition among healthy working adults, influenza vaccination reduces episodes of upper respiratory or influenza-like illnesses from all causes by 25 – 34%, associated work loss by 32 – 43%, physician visits by 34 – 44%, and antibiotic use for influenza-associated illnesses by 25%.” (Clinical benefits of influenza vaccination, 2009, Healthy adults aged <65 years, para.1). Among children, whose age is from 1 to 15, vaccination is successful to prevent influenza-related respiratory diseases and also it helps in the prevention of secondary infections such as infection from the family members, atmosphere, etc. Recent studies indicate that vaccine does not affect pregnant women causing any damage to the fetus and making any harm to the reproductive health of the women.
Risks and Side effects
Most of the people who receive vaccination have no side effects other than small pain at the site of injection and low fever for some days. There is a chance of showing allergic reactions in some people who get the vaccination. Swine flu vaccine used in 1971 had shown Guillain-Barre syndrome among children but this incident is rare among adults. Some people are restricted from receiving the vaccine due to their health conditions. They are people who have a strong allergic reaction whenever they take chicken and egg protein, those who have severe fever or disease, people who have experienced a strong allergic reaction in the previous influenza vaccination, and people who had been paralyzed because of the Guillain-Barre syndrome which is an auto-immune disease that affects the peripheral nervous system. Injection of vaccination may affect mild fever, small pain, swelling, redness, and soreness around the part of the body where the vaccine is injected. Children who have been injected with the vaccine have often experienced severe headaches, muscle pain, vomiting, pain in the stomach, running nose, cough, etc. “The steady escalation in the number of vaccines administered has been followed by an identical rise in the incidence of auto-immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, subacute lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, asthma) seen in children. While there is a genetic transmission of some of these diseases, many are probably due to the injury from foreign protein particles, mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, and other toxic agents injected in vaccines.” (Doubleday, 2001, Other dangerous from vaccines, para.4). Though there was no incidence of swine flu, the use of swine flu vaccine among American farmers was reported and they hesitated to take the vaccine since it killed several animals. After a few months of vaccination among human beings, cases of serious nerve injuries were reported.
Conclusion
This paper presents the various perspectives on the influenza vaccination such as what is the influenza vaccine, what are the benefits out of taking the influenza vaccine, and what are the risk factors due to the injection of influenza vaccination.
Reference List
Clinical benefits of influenza vaccination: Healthy adults aged <65 years. (2009). Solvay- Influenza.com. Web.
Doubleday, J. (2001). To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: Other dangerous from vaccines. “Revolutionary” Concept Meeting the needs pf Today: Advance Health Plan= Education.
Economical benefits of influenza vaccination: Healthy adults younger than 65 years: Five reasons to provide influenza vaccination. (2009). Solvay- Influenza.com. Web.
Science reference: Vaccination. (2009). Science Daily. Web.