Vaccination is an essential activity in the reduction of morbidity and mortality rates. It has ensured better standards of living and has saved several lives. In the attempt to combat infectious diseases, the use of vaccines has been argued to have potentiated better lives by eradicating poverty in various societies. However, various scientists have debated whether the vaccination process can serve as the core element in the reduction of poverty levels (Dr. T. Pang, 2017).
In the report given by the World Bank in 2015, the estimated poverty rate was 10.7 per cent of the population living on less than US$1.90 a day, and this showed a decrease in the percentage compared to the 2013 analysis. Globally, a vast number of people live in rural areas, are poorly educated, are associated with agriculture, and are of a tender age below 18 years. These individuals are often viewed as debilitated by a set of challenges, mainly tropical diseases. The science of vaccination, therefore, can help in the well-being of individuals and see them go to work and schools and attend to the core responsibilities in modern society (Dr. T. Pang, 1994). Vaccination is thus a cost-effective means of eradicating poverty.
Health status is an indicator of power, and thus, poverty serves as a course of poor health. When the cost of vaccination is not affordable to a population, they may will be pushed into poverty. Therefore, in order to increase their chances of life, they may tend to increase their fertility rates, which would otherwise predispose them to the risk of poverty. However, the vaccination program has shown good results in terms of global health. Diseases destroy energy, and thus, talent is lost. They retard the growth of children both physically and mentally. This suggests a poverty threat that would drive into our economy (Melinda, 2014). For instance, malaria deters individuals from being productive; over time, it causes deaths and even low earnings and savings to the affected individuals.
The implementation of the vaccination programs has ensured a rise in the life expectancy ratio. The affected population has been able to control the fertility rate through effective education, seminars, and the administration of vaccines. These activities have ensured that the society is able to meet its needs, thus reducing poverty levels.
The vaccination program has been successful in alleviating poverty over the past few years. For instance, the meningococcal vaccine is a group of vaccines that use the conjugation mechanism to change the unconjugated polysaccharide types and induce an antibody response. This has shown a positive response to being immunogenic in infants, bringing about memory responses and augmenting antibody levels (MacLennan, 2013). Through such vaccination, the children are able to grow well mentally, making them capable of learning and acquisition of knowledge. It is through such programs that the productivity of the people in the society is upheld. Through the introduction of vaccines, the lives of many have also been saved. Thus, it has lengthened the productivity of a large number of income-earning individuals and even labourers.
However, vaccination activity, despite its positive impact, faces certain challenges. This ranges from resistance to the cost of production. There are major diseases that still bring great challenges to the health sector. This includes hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza type b, rotavirus and typhoid fever (Dr. Pang, 1994). Amid the trials by various governments to curb the spread of such diseases, it has not been possible to eradicate them. This further poses a high cost of maintaining treatment for the infected as well as a high cost of production.
Therefore, most of the developing countries are not able to eradicate such diseases. Certain viral infections are also fast spreading and have a high rate of replication (i.e. HIV virus and Ebola virus). In the trials to invent effective vaccines for such infections, they highly mutate and tend to change their genomic structure (Dr. Pang, 2017). These mutations eventually lead to drug resistance, and scientists thus have to continue researching for the new vaccines. In addition, most developing countries have poor surveillance and inadequate data in tracking the disease burdens, as well as poor scientific research bases. This eventually leads to an unhealthy society and a lack of proper education for the population concerning emerging diseases. In developing countries, a lack of proper diet would also predispose the population to infectious diseases (Maclennan, 2013).
Eventually, I tend to believe that there is a strong connection between poverty and vaccination. Since vaccination aims to promote and achieve better health standards, it is a factor that ensures productivity and encourages individuals to use their talents. Better health preserves energy and skills, and thus, by the fervent application of these in modern society, the population would also be able to grow economically. Various governments should, therefore, subsidize the costs of affording the vaccines to reach a larger population with the aim of increasing the productivity of the nations. Therefore, the use of vaccines has a greater impact on the reduction of poverty.
References
World Health Organization( 2011) Mr. Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Speech to sixty-fouth World Health Assembly. http://www.who.int/medicacentre/events/2011/wha64/bill_gates_speech_20110517/en/index.html, February 12, 2014
MacLennan CA, Levine MM. Invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease in Africa. 2013; 11(5):443-446. [ PubMed ]
PATH, (2014) Poverty Reduction and immunization, Prepared for The Bill and Melinda Gates by Alan Fairbank, Marty Makinen and Whitney Schott.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH-vol II- Dr. T. Pang, 1994Vaccination in Developing Countries, problems, challenges and Opportunities
World Health Organization (2013) sustaining the drive to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases. www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/7789241564540_eng.pdf.
