Vaccination programmes have prevented millions of deaths, but deciding whether to vaccinate involves weighing up benefits, risks and ethical issues.Advantages of vaccination
• It protects the vaccinated person from a disease that could cause serious illness, disability or death.
• If enough people are vaccinated, it also protects people who cannot be vaccinated, and it can lead to the eradication of a disease, as happened with smallpox.
• Preventing disease is usually cheaper than treating it, and fewer people are off work or school.
• Vaccines reduce the need for antibiotics, which helps to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance.Disadvantages and problems
• Vaccines can cause side effects. Most are mild, such as a sore arm or a slight fever, but a very small number of people have a severe allergic reaction.
• Vaccination does not always produce immunity, for example in people with weakened immune systems.
• Pathogens with high antigenic variability, such as influenza, need a new vaccine to be produced and given regularly.
• Some vaccines must be kept cold, which is difficult and expensive in some parts of the world.Ethical issues
• New vaccines must be tested on animals and then in clinical trials on human volunteers, which involves some risk to those people. Some trials give a placebo to a control group, who are then left unprotected.
• Should vaccination be compulsory? This protects the population but removes an individual's freedom to choose.
• If a vaccine is in short supply, who should receive it first?
• Some people object to vaccines produced using animal products.
• It protects the vaccinated person from a disease that could cause serious illness, disability or death.
• If enough people are vaccinated, it also protects people who cannot be vaccinated, and it can lead to the eradication of a disease, as happened with smallpox.
• Preventing disease is usually cheaper than treating it, and fewer people are off work or school.
• Vaccines reduce the need for antibiotics, which helps to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance.Disadvantages and problems
• Vaccines can cause side effects. Most are mild, such as a sore arm or a slight fever, but a very small number of people have a severe allergic reaction.
• Vaccination does not always produce immunity, for example in people with weakened immune systems.
• Pathogens with high antigenic variability, such as influenza, need a new vaccine to be produced and given regularly.
• Some vaccines must be kept cold, which is difficult and expensive in some parts of the world.Ethical issues
• New vaccines must be tested on animals and then in clinical trials on human volunteers, which involves some risk to those people. Some trials give a placebo to a control group, who are then left unprotected.
• Should vaccination be compulsory? This protects the population but removes an individual's freedom to choose.
• If a vaccine is in short supply, who should receive it first?
• Some people object to vaccines produced using animal products.