Some Problems of Vaccination Campaigns in Developing Countries
Vaccination offers the most cost-effective approach to prevent and control infectious
diseases in the history of mankind.
The English physician Edward Jenner introduced smallpox
vaccine in 1798. It is the first successful vaccine to be developed.
Since then a series of vaccines have been developed and come into use;
for example, the influenza vaccine, the hepatitis
B vaccine, and the polio vaccine.
The World Health Organization reports that licensed
vaccines are currently available to successfully combat against twenty-five infections.
Recently the potential epidemics of two infectious diseases
have stepped into the spotlight: diphtheria resurgence in Denmark
and swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in Ukraine.
Danish authorities announced in this January that unvaccinated
refugees have brought deadly diphtheria into the country after 20-year absence.
For other European countries, it was reported
that asylum seeker have also been found to carry tuberculosis and malaria.
Flu activity most commonly peaks in the northern hemisphere
between December and February.
In Ukraine, the H1N1 influenza virus has killed more than 50 people
in this January so far, and moreover,
the infection cases are growing, and many young people have fallen ill.
The virus is approaching, or might have reached, epidemic
levels in parts of the country. Swine flu (H1N1) has caused deaths
in Russia and other former Soviet republics as well such as Armenia and Kazakhstan.
That vaccine-preventable diseases are rampant in developing countries
may be induced by the following factors:
Many people cannot afford to finance vaccine research
or purchase the vaccines such that
they are still not benefiting from vaccination.
Vaccin Res Open J. 2016; 1(1): e1-e2. doi: 10.17140/VROJ-1-e001
