Vaccines are very important to the general well being of the public. I have recently been doing a research project on the many outbreaks caused by pertussis, better known as whooping cough. It really is a scary disease that can be spread with ease. Everyone can contract pertussis, but primarily infants are the ones who are horribly affected by it or even killed. Vaccines against pertussis have recently (within the last 20 years) been changed to a DTaP vaccine. This vaccine employs the use of acellular pertussis which means that only part of the bacteria is present within the vaccine. The vaccine used to be DTwP which used the whole cell. This vaccine lead to many public scares in different nations with major epidemic following the decreased rates of vaccinations. Unfortunately we are still seeing cases of pertussis in many regions of the world. The DTaP vaccine is slightly less effective than the DTwP vaccine, additionally we are seeing a new wave of anti-vaxxers. People have begun refusing vaccines unaware of the damage that they may cause to those around them. The way that most infants get sick from pertussis is by someone close to them that exposes them to the disease. The way to protect infants and people that can’t, for whatever reason, be vaccinated is to get vaccinated yourself and create a herd immunity. This has effectively eradicated diseases in certain regions of the world but many are still vulnerable.
Recent comments