Over the years, we’ve all become accustomed to the concept of immunization which is basically a health promotion method to prevent individuals from contracting some diseases by making them immune to these pathogens. And that’s where the concept of vaccination comes in. The main difference between immunization and vaccination is that vaccination is the process of introducing live or attenuated pathogens in the form of a vaccine into a human so as to build immunity and immunization is the process of the individuals system developing immunity to that particular disease.
The important of vaccination cannot be overstated in our world today because the vaccination of a part of a society susceptibility to a disease can lead to heard immunity, thus protecting most people in that community. I bet everyone of us has been vaccinated at least once in our lives against some disease but I do know of some parents who don’t allow their kids to get vaccinated for their own reason which I think can pose a huge risk to their kids in future. Growing up, I used to get vaccinated most of the time when I go to the hospital or when the health workers come around to vaccinate kids. Even while I was in basic school, I got vaccinated in school but as to what I was being vaccinated for,I didn’t know as I was a kid then. But the school made sure to seek our parents consent before all of that.
Now that I am older and in the health field, I’ve grown to understand and appreciate the importance of vaccination in our world currently. Looking at the COVID pandemic which hit our world a few years ago, so many people died but also, so many people were saved, thanks to vaccines. Within a short time of the outbreak, scientists were able to develop a vaccine to help keep propel immune from the virus and that has helped keep most of us alive today. I for one didn’t want to take the vaccine when it first came because I started to hear so many theories. Some said if you take the jab you were going to die in a few years time. Others said that the vaccine was a way to kill us and so many things.
Even though I was going out to the lab during those days, I made sure to take care of myself and practice all the safety measures to protect myself and also not put those around me at risk. But eventually, I had to take the vaccine when I had to travel and so I let go of all those theories and took it. I knew it was good for me but you know how these things be work, once word starts going around and being the African that I am, I’m bound to believe at least a part of the story because you never know.😂
But hey, look at me today, alive and well as always. Even though I know vaccinations are important, sometimes I just can’t seem to shake of the thought of those rumors because in every rumor, there’s an iota of truth in there. A while back , I read about AstraZeneca being sued for their Covid vaccine and the claims were that their Covid vaccine could cause a rare blood clotting condition which is deadly. I didn’t follow up on it to know how it ended but if that claim is true, then most of us are now at a risk of that condition depending on our genetics. Probably, it was just one of those things they didn’t pay attention to and now has landed them here and this could also potentially ruin the lives of others. But we pray it doesn’t get to that. Aside all these, the importance of vaccination cannot be overemphasized regardless.
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