Vaccines: let's give the numbers (of prevention)

Il 33% dei genitori ritiene i vaccini più pericolosi delle malattie che prevengono, rispetto a un 25,4% di mamme e papà che pensano l’opposto e a un 36,6% secondo cui dipende dai vaccini e dalle patologie.

The obligatory practice of vaccination is finding less and less favor among parents. And pediatricians don't always encourage moms and dads to have their children vaccinated, thanks to the belief that some diseases are part of the past history of our country or, worse, that vaccinations are actually harmful. In this regard, the data published in the 1st Report "Vaccination Prevention" published by the National Observatory on Health in the Italian Regions cannot fail to make us reflect.

The document, which also pushes in the direction of a cultural change of pace to obtain consent to vaccination, rather than to continue on the path of obligatory, demonstrates how many diseases have dropped in an incontrovertible way thanks, in fact, to vaccines. Despite the lack of homogeneity of the data – caused by the fact that each single region offers different vaccination schedules – the data on a national scale indicates that in the decade 2000-2010 there was a substantial reduction in many health problems.

THE cases of hepatitis B, for example, decreased by 81.54%, measles by 73.37%, rubella by 98.20%. The cases of poliomyelitis and diphtheria were 0 and 57 those of tetanus. Mumps has also decreased significantly: from 37,669 cases in 2000 we reached 534 cases in 2010, with a decrease of 98.58%. Are they satisfactory results? Certainly, but we have not yet reached the declared objectives: the coverage of the population by 95%.

Quota that would make it possible to obtain an important result: protect the entire population from these diseases and really make them disappear from our health horizon. There is a lot of work to be done to achieve this goal: the perplexities and false beliefs of the "anti-vaccinators" must be unhinged, at the same time making a cultural leap to show how vaccination is a safe safeguard and an investment in health some children.

There is no shortage of tools for information: everyone needs to be committed to safeguarding the scientific truth of the facts and, therefore, it is necessary to pursue the most correct policies to defend the health of the entire population.

Source Paidòss – N.2 – Luglio 2015 – Anno 2

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