VACCINES SAVE LIVES

One of the most terrible scourges which have affected human beings over the centuries is the spread of pandemics whereby infectious diseases kill millions without any possibility of stopping or controlling them. In the Middle Ages, for example, the Bubonic Plague or Black Death killed off, by some estimates, more than half of the population of Europe, and it had to be allowed to run its course since there was no way of controlling it, as, as modern societies do, by vaccines. Over the centuries, there have been other Pandemics, the most recent being COVID-19 which is only now receding.

Over the centuries also, societies have been trying to find answers to meet Pandemics but without much success. Smallpox was one of the most deadly and recurrent epidemics, and the ancient Chinese and Indian doctors collected the dried scabs of the pox, ground them, and patients and others inhaled the powdered scabs, or it was put under the skin. This procedure, later known as Variolation in the West, resulted in a milder attack of the disease in the majority of patients, but it was no cure or prevention.

The breakthrough came in 18th century England when Dr Edward Jenner used a weakened cowpox germ to inject into patients, resulting in immunity against Smallpox. Dr Jenner published his findings in the Medical Journals and the procedure became widespread and was given the name of vaccination. The story of Dr Jenner’s discovery is interesting: He noticed that milkmaids often contracted cowpox and developed an immunity to Smallpox.

Later, in 1879, the great French scientist Dr Louis Pasteur did further scientific work in developing vaccines and thereafter, scientists in other parts of the world, working in their laboratories, developed vaccines by using other methods than by use of a weakened form of the germ.

Vaccines have now been discovered to combat many of the most deadly infectious diseases and the result has been particularly positive with children whose chances of survival have greatly improved – from a death rate of 20% to 25% to about 2% to 3%. Vaccines have now been developed for Hepatitis, Diphtheria, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Polio, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, Cholera, Measles, Mumps and Rubella or German Measles. By 1980 the World Health Organization had been able to issue an announcement that the world was free of Smallpox and after Dr Jonas Salk’s invention of the Polio Vaccine, Polio has been eliminated from the world except for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Guyana had been the victim of epidemics – For example, in the 19th century, thousands of people died from cholera to the extent where a particular part of the Le Repentir cemetery was allocated for cholera burials or in the early 20th century, tens of thousands of people died from Influenza. The country has successfully combated the COVID-19 Pandemic by using vaccines and health precautions.

Vaccines have saved the lives of thousands of Guyanese over the years, especially small children. In the past, when a child was infected with any of the infectious diseases, he or she would often die in the mother’s hands, the mother being helpless to do anything. Or when a family member was hospitalised for any infectious diseases, it was a harrowing time for them because they could receive a “death message” at any time.

With the spread of vaccines, the world has become safer, the fear generated by infectious diseases has greatly diminished, and thousands of Guyanese have been saved from early death.

Despite Vaccines’ great benefits to the world, there has always been an anti-Vaccination lobby, even from the time of Dr Jenner. The positions taken by the anti-Vaccination lobby are fundamentally rationally flawed. During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Guyana, when there was the threat of massive deaths, the anti-Vaccination lobby tried to keep citizens away from taking the vaccination, thus endangering themselves and infecting others.

During the height of the Covid 19 Pandemic, many countries suffered from serious vaccine shortages or had to pay exploitative prices to acquire them. The Government of Guyana is seriously thinking of becoming a vaccination producer and has already made linkages with India, the largest vaccine producer in the world. It should be remembered that there are several able

Guyanese scientists working in various countries. One of the lead scientists in the production of the Pfizer Covid vaccine, for example, is Dr Vidya Roopchand from Wakenaam and an alumnus of the University of Guyana.
The Ministry of Health, in its drive to protect the population, is offering in the month of May, free vaccinations for a number of diseases, including HPV, Yellow Fever, Hepatitis B, COVID-19, Tetanus, Cervical Cancer, Measles, Mumps and Rubella (German Measles). If citizens had to pay for these vaccinations at private hospitals, it would cost them thousands of dollars. Vaccination centres are Ministry of Health, Brickdam; East LaPenitence Health Centre; Sophia Health Centre; Ministry of Health Vaccination Centre; and Massy Stores at Turkeyen and Providence, EBD. The Consumer Community and the population at large are enjoined to take advantage of the Ministry’s gracious offering.

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