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The Story in 100 Words
Vaccinations play a vital role in the fight against preventable diseases. Whether they are administered as a child, or for adults travelling abroad, vaccines prevent the body from contracting certain infectious diseases. Since the discovery of the first vaccine for smallpox by Edward Jenner in 1798, research has led to the creation of vaccines for dozens of deadly diseases. In some cases, whole diseases have been eradicated thanks to mass vaccination programmes.
However, the global vaccination rate is dropping thanks, in part, to the spread of misinformation. Even though thousands of studies have proved their safety. When it comes to travel, vaccinations provide protection against diseases prevalent in other parts of the world. Going without them is an unnecessary risk to your health. You can find out what you need before you leave by using our travel vaccine checker.
The Story in 500 Words
Vaccinations play a vital role in the fight against preventable diseases. Whether they are administered as a child, or for adults travelling abroad, vaccines prevent the body from contracting certain infectious diseases.
Yet according to the latest figures from the NHS, vaccinations rates (particularly those for children) are falling across the board. This worrying trend is perhaps driven by a lack of understanding surrounding what vaccinations do and how they work. This article will aim to clear up any confusion and restate the necessary role vaccinations have in our overall health.
What are Vaccines?
A vaccine works by training your body’s immune system to recognise and destroy a specific disease before you’ve been infected by it naturally. This helps your body to develop an immunity to the infection, which means if you contract it, you won’t get sick, nor will you spread the disease to other unsuspecting individuals with whom you are close contact. Generally speaking, this is achieved by injecting a weakened form of the disease into your body, usually into your arm.
Why Do We Need to Take Vaccines?
In short, vaccinations help our bodies develop antibodies to a wide range of potentially deadly diseases. In many cases, just one injection can give us immunity for life. If you were to go without vaccinations, it would leave you open to contraction of a whole palette of dangerous diseases, massively increasing the chance of contracting a severe illness. This is particularly the case for small children.
When Else Might You Have Vaccinations?
While vaccinations are primarily given to children, several groups within society also require protection to lead a healthy life.
Old Age Pensioners
Those over the current retirement age of 65 are entitled to vaccinations on the NHS. The most common vaccination administered to this age group is the winter flu vaccine, but other vaccines include the pneumonia vaccine and the shingles vaccine for those over the age of 70.
Pregnant Women
Women are offered vaccinations during pregnancy to protect both the mother and the baby from diseases. Pregnant women are offered the flu vaccination, and from 16 weeks onwards, they are also provided with an injection for Whooping Cough, which can be fatal to a newborn.
Those with underlying health conditions
There are many individuals within society with have medical conditions, genetic or otherwise, that render their immune systems more vulnerable. For example, those will sickle cell disease, or diabetes are offered pneumonia, flu, MenB, Hib/MenC, and MenACWY vaccines to protect against deadly diseases such as meningitis.
Those travelling abroad
For holidaymakers looking to head abroad for their trip, vaccinations may be required to protect against local diseases that aren’t prevalent in the UK. Polio, Diphtheria, and Tetanus are the vaccinations needed for most countries, with some countries requesting proof of Yellow Fever immunisation before allowing entry.
Are Vaccinations Dangerous?
In a word, no. The reason there was so much controversy surrounding vaccines is primarily because of one researcher who published a study in the Lancet journal linking the MMR jab with autism. But there were so many fatal flaws with the study that it has been widely discredited, removed from the journal, and the doctor who carried out the research had his license to practice medicine stripped from him.
There are, however, well-documented side effects to vaccinations, but they are benign in most instances. Fever, dizziness, and soreness at the injection site are all common but very mild side effects. Overall, when taken safely, any conceivable risks of vaccinations are far outweighed by the benefits.
Can You Travel Without Vaccinations?
Although not advisable, there are a limited amount of countries you can travel to without vaccinations. However, specific states will prevent you from entering unless you have a certificate to prove you’ve had a particular immunisation. This is especially the case for countries that have a less-developed health infrastructure. You can check the requirements for each country using our travel vaccine checker here before taking your flights.
Protecting Your Travel Health
Here at DocHQ, we’ve invested in providing you with a completely hassle-free travel health service. In just a few clicks you can find out which travel vaccines you need, the date you need to have taken them by, and you can even book an appointment at your nearest CQC-registered clinic direct from our website. How simple is that?
So if you’re unsure about which vaccinations you may need to take before departing on your next adventure, simply enter your destination paired with your travel dates, and our travel vaccine tool will take care of the rest!
The Full Blog
Vaccinations play a vital role in the fight against preventable diseases. Whether they are administered as a child, or for adults travelling abroad, vaccines prevent the body from contracting certain infectious diseases.
Yet according to the latest figures from the NHS, vaccinations rates (particularly those for children) are falling across the board.1 This worrying trend is perhaps driven by a lack of understanding surrounding what vaccinations do and how they work. This article will aim to clear up any confusion and restate the necessary role vaccinations have in our overall health.
What are Vaccines?
A vaccine works by training your body’s immune system to recognise and destroy a specific disease before you’ve been infected by it naturally. This helps your body to develop an immunity to the infection, which means if you contract it, you won’t get sick, nor will you spread the disease to other unsuspecting individuals with whom you are in close contact with.
Generally speaking, this is achieved by injecting a weakened form of the disease into your body, usually into your arm. Once inside your body, your immune system detects the invading germs (antigens) and produces antibodies to fight them. Those antibodies then stay within your body for a long time (in some cases the rest of your life) ready to attack those same antigens should they ever appear again.
This process works to protect the body from all kinds of illnesses, from the common flu to severe diseases such as smallpox and polio. Failure to immunise against the more severe illness can result in life-altering changes, and in worst-case scenarios, death. Hence why vaccinations are so crucial in the battle to keep us healthy.
What are the Different Types of Vaccine?
There are two main categories when it comes to vaccines, live attenuated vaccines and inactivated vaccines.
Live attenuated vaccines
These vaccines contain bacteria or viruses that have been weakened enough to create a protective immune response without actually causing the disease amongst recipients. These live vaccines create a lasting immune response, often for the rest of our lives. However, they can be dangerous for those with weakened immune systems, as the specific virus or bacteria could over-multiply and cause the recipient to develop the disease. Examples of live attenuated vaccines include:
- Rotavirus
- MMR
- Shingles
- Chickenpox
- BCG (TB)
- Some flu vaccines
Inactivated vaccines
This kind of vaccine works slightly differently, as bacteria or viruses that have been killed are injected into the body (whole killed vaccines). In other circumstances, selected proteins or sugars of the disease are injected (subunit vaccines). There are significantly more vaccines that fall into the inactivated category which include (but aren’t limited to) the following:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Rabies
- Japanese Encephalitis
- Diphtheria
- Tetanus
- Whooping Cough
- Flu vaccines
- HPV
- Pneumococcal vaccine (pneumonia)
- MenC (meningitis)
- MenB (meningitis)
- MenACWY (meningitis)
Why Do We Need to Take Vaccines?
In short, vaccinations help our bodies develop antibodies to a wide range of potentially deadly diseases. In many cases, just one injection can give us immunity for life. If you were to go without vaccinations, it would leave you open to contraction of a whole palette of dangerous diseases, massively increasing the chance of contracting a severe illness.
None more so is this the case than in children. Around 150 years ago, infant mortality rates in the industrialised parts of the world were at an alarming 20%. A further 20% of those children didn’t make it to their fifth birthday.7 Before the advent of vaccinations, measles, diphtheria, mumps, rubella, and the aforementioned smallpox were the leading causes of death amongst young children.
In the case of infants and small children, the body has only experienced limited exposure to diseases. Therefore, they haven’t developed sufficient immunological responses to fend them off should they become infected. In a bid to combat the alarming mortality rates, throughout the 20th-century governments began mandating the provision of vaccinations to help children during their early years. Today, children under the age of five receive more than a dozen vaccination injections before their fifth birthday.8
Research has shown that these vaccinations have helped to reduce infant mortality rates, and the effects have even been witnessed over the last 30 years. The office for national statistics reports that before the introduction of immunisations such as the MMR vaccine, infant mortality rates were at 9.4 deaths per 1,000 births (1985). In contrast, today, that figure is 3.9 deaths less than half of what it was thirty years ago.9
If we, as a global population, stop receiving vaccinations, then those deadly diseases mentioned would make a return, potentially killing millions and requiring significant resources to combat.
When Else Might You Have Vaccinations?
While vaccinations are primarily given to children, several groups within society also require protection to lead a healthy life.
Old Age Pensioners
Those over the current retirement age of 65 are entitled to vaccinations on the NHS. As we age, our T-cells within our immune systems (which help produce antibodies) start to lose functionality, and so illnesses take much longer to fight off than in a younger patient. The most common vaccination administered to this age group is the winter flu vaccine, which is dispensed every year to reflect the changing structure of new flu strains. Other vaccines include the pneumonia vaccine and the shingles vaccine for those over the age of 70.
Pregnant Women
Women are offered vaccinations during pregnancy to protect both the mother and the baby from diseases. During the winter, pregnant women are offered the flu vaccination, helping to prevent any complications during gestation. From 16 weeks onwards, they are also provided with an injection for Whooping Cough, which can be fatal to a newborn.
Those with underlying health conditions
There are many individuals within society with have medical conditions, genetic or otherwise, that render their immune systems more vulnerable. For example, those will sickle cell disease, or diabetes are offered pneumonia, flu, MenB, Hib/MenC, and MenACWY vaccines to protect against deadly diseases such as meningitis.
Those travelling abroad
For holidaymakers looking to head abroad for their trip, vaccinations may be required to protect against local diseases that aren’t prevalent in the UK. Polio, Diphtheria, and Tetanus are the vaccinations needed for most countries, with some countries requesting proof of further vaccinations against diseases such as Hepatitis A and B, Cholera, or Yellow Fever before allowing entry.
Are Vaccinations Dangerous?
In a word, no. The reason there was so much controversy surrounding vaccines is primarily because of one researcher who published a study in the Lancet journal linking the MMR jab with autism. But there were so many fatal flaws with the study that it has been widely discredited, and the doctor who carried out the research had his license to practice medicine stripped from him.
The study focused on a group of just 12 children, eight of whom were diagnosed with autism after receiving the MMR jab. To put that in perspective, about 600,000 thousand children have received the MMR vaccine every year since its introduction in 1988.10 To assert that the experiences of a group of eight young children (who were at an age where autism is first identified anyway), could somehow have medical implications for the other 20+ million other children that had received the vaccine, was rightly met with consternation and ridicule.
Things got worse for AJ Wakefield (the doctor that carried out the research) when it was later revealed that he already knew that eight out of the nine sets of parents of autistic children blamed the MMR vaccine for their condition before starting his work, automatically biasing the whole study. As mentioned, his actions were deemed so contemptible and dangerous that the Lancet journal removed the study commenting at the time, “It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false.” He was prevented from practising medicine ever again.
Some conspiracy theorists took his findings as gospel and continue to spread misinformation about the MMR and many other vaccinations to this day. This is despite the fact that thousands of different, much-better researched studies have shown that there is no credible link between the MMR vaccine and autism.11
There are, however, well-documented side effects to vaccinations, but they are benign in most instances. Fever, dizziness, and soreness at the injection site are all common but very mild side effects. In very rare cases, the injection can cause seizures, but in most instances, there aren’t any side effects at all.
It’s also important to note that in some cases, a patient’s age and health conditions could mean that vaccinations aren’t suitable. For instance, those who are immunocompromised (e.g. HIV positive) may need to avoid certain vaccines such as TB or smallpox. Whereas those over the age of 60 shouldn’t have the Yellow Fever vaccine without first seeking specialist medical advice, as they are at higher risk of suffering life-threating side effects.
But overall, when taken safely, any conceivable risks of vaccinations are far outweighed by the benefits.
Can You Travel Without Vaccinations?
Although not advisable, there are a limited amount of countries you can travel to without vaccinations. However, specific states will prevent you from entering unless you have a certificate to prove you’ve had a particular immunisation. This is especially the case for countries that have a less-developed health infrastructure.
Others ask for certificates of Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and polio immunisation, even though nearly every strain of polio has been eradicated.12 You can check the requirements for each country using our travel vaccine checker here before taking your flights.
How Can You Minimise the Chance of Contracting Disease While Abroad?
There are several steps you can take to minimise the chance of you falling seriously ill in a foreign country. Here’s a quick list to make sure you are taking the right precautions when travelling:
- Keeping washing your hands – it reduces the chance of contracting diarrhoea, vomiting, food poisoning, flu, norovirus and even Hepatitis A.
- Drink bottled water to keep hydrated and avoid stomach issues (including for brushing your teeth). Look for any bottles that have had the cap seal broken; they may have been filled with local tap water.
- Keep a close eye and what you eat. Make sure it has been thoroughly cooked, and that the restaurant/hotel practices good hygiene.
- Try and stay active on holiday. Exercise is a great natural way for the body to remain fit and healthy.
- Adequately protect yourself against the sun. Wear hats, cover extremities, and apply plenty of sun cream. Sunstroke and sunburn can weaken the immune system.
- Get vaccinated in plenty of time before departure. Use our travel vaccine tool to find out which ones you need and by which date.
- Take precautions against mosquito bites. Use nets to sleep in and liberally apply insect repellent with a high DEET content.
- Take anti-malarial medication whenever necessary.
- Create a first aid kit full of essential supplies and take it with you.
- Make an appointment with a travel health professional at your nearest clinic. Their expert advice could prove invaluable.
Protecting Your Travel Health
Since the early work of Edward Jenner, vaccinations have played a crucial role in limiting the spread of (or in some cases eradicating) common diseases that have a devastating effect on society. However, there are many parts of the world (particularly those with warmer climates) that still experience outbreaks of deadly diseases that we aren’t exposed to here in the UK.
You may be backpacking, taking a cruise, going on a city break or away with friends, but without the correct vaccinations before visiting many locations, you are taking a risk with your health. Most of the threats are easily preventable today thanks to vaccinations, so there’s no real need to take that risk.
Here at DocHQ, we’ve invested in providing you with a completely hassle-free travel health service. In just a few clicks you can find out which travel vaccines you need, the date you need to have taken them by, and you can even book an appointment at your nearest CQC-registered clinic direct from our website. How simple is that?
So if you’re unsure about which vaccinations you may need to take before departing on your next adventure, simply enter your destination paired with your travel dates, and our travel vaccine tool will take care of the rest!
References:
- NHS – https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2018-19
- Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine –Edward Jenner https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=6kONXoMmWa8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=6+++E.+Jenner++++++++++++,+++++++++++Inquiry+into+the+Causes+and+Effects+of+the+Variolae+Vaccine+++++++++++(London:+Sampson+Low,+++++++++++1798+++++++++++),+45.+++++++++&ots=XzVCj9Tx8Q&sig=b0nx-H7Hl4E4WPBPyGNWgWNHnvk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Science Direct – https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/smallpox
- Science Direct – https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/smallpox
- World Health Organization – https://www.who.int/about/bugs_drugs_smoke_chapter_1_smallpox.pdf
- World Health Organization – https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/en/
- Health Affairs Journal – https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.24.3.611
- NHS – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them/
- Office For National Statistics – https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/articles/trendsinbirthsanddeathsoverthelastcentury/2015-07-15
- Western Journal of Medicine – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071313/
- Western Journal of Medicine – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071313/
- World Health Organization – https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/polio/en/
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