Online Reporter
ONE of the great advances in public health over the past half century has been the application of vaccination against common childhood diseases across the world, saving the lives of millions of children for remarkably low costs per child.
During the 20th Century there was gradual progress in developing new vaccines against what had been killer diseases for many children, and infections that used to bring terror to families and communities were, one by one, brought under control.
Diphtheria in the 1920s, polio in the 1950s, and then the big rush as measles, rubella, mumps and others were tamed by some of the brightest medical researchers on the planet.
This was just the start.
It was quickly realised that it was now possible to bring in all the bits and create an integrated child health programme that saw vaccination, monitoring of weight and other factors, offering simple public health solutions and recording the results on a single card.
Led by Unicef, the UN Children’s Fund, with the solid backing of the science of the World Health Organisation, international commitments were made by Governments and some private trusts that less than US$5 per child per year would at least halve child mortality globally, just like that.
The programme came just a few years after independence, and Zimbabwe was a very enthusiastic early participant.
Yes, we had backing from development partners, but we started by committing our own resources, most of the staff that we were already bringing into the public health clinic system for a start.
Because we were pushing ahead hard, we got support such as for the cold chains for vaccines, that kept these at the right temperature all the way from national headquarters to remote rural clinics.
Vaccines were supplied free, and it was and still is impossible to buy them; however rich your parents are, the baby gets free vaccines although private doctors can charge a fee for giving them out. But all babies and small children are on the same system with the same cards, regardless of who does the work.
These vaccine chains were used to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines to much larger groups later on, and the Government kept that critical core of free vaccines, and free injections in the public health system although registered private doctors could charge a small set maximum fee.
We knew what worked and kept all the bits.
Global changes have seen some support withdrawn from the less well-off countries, although international agencies, some private trusts, and many partner countries maintaining what they can manage.
Zimbabwe understands, and while helping to maintain the routine vaccination programme is also prepared, as it was during Covid-19, to contribute to the emergency vaccine drives.
The latest is this week’s national measles and rubella joint vaccination or revaccination for all children under five.
The Government has added US$1,9 million to its health funding as a contribution to fill the holes left by those who are pulling out, while maintaining the excellent contacts with those still able to help.
For Zimbabwe there are good medical and financial reasons to keep the vaccination services at the maximum level. Vaccination is not just the cheapest way of controlling a disease that has an effective vaccine, it is also easily the most effective. If no one falls sick because everyone is vaccinated then there is no disease; we are all free of the danger.
Accountants are generally a lot happier since they do not have to pay for curative services, just a preventative chain of staff and basic equipment that has to be in place in any case. And with the suffering of the blindness of measles or the deaths of children or the other eliminated horrors, we can spend more money on prevention rather than rehabilitation.
Vaccination does work best when everyone at risk is vaccinated. No vaccine is perfect, which is one reason for revaccination at times, but when the overwhelming majority are vaccinated then if there is someone who was not immunised by their injection, they are still not going to get measles, since everyone they play with, walk with and generally live with is immune.
This is why a decent vaccination campaign looks at protecting each person and then protecting every community and the whole nation by making sure that the disease cannot spread, since two people where the vaccine did not take are not likely to meet.
So in this case, with the measles-rubella campaign, parents have the double responsibility to ensure their own children are protected and then to ensure that everyone with their children is also protected as a community.
We do need each other.
There is some very bad pseudo-science on the internet, a lot generated by faked research results more than 20 years ago, the originator of which is now disbarred for life from anything to do with real medicine.
Others bring in nonsense that they do not understand and then some religious and other leaders have non-scientific views.
But the internet also gives the solid correct science, the explanations that anyone with genuine worries can see answers their concerns.
Responsible secular and religious and traditional leaders all help spread the real story and the real danger of what not being vaccinated means.
Some of the nonsense has seen global vaccination programmes hit, but with the solid scientific majority onside this is not a real problem, especially when we have Governments like our own ready to assume their own responsibilities.
In any case, as we move up the ladder into the upper middle income countries we will have to shoulder more of the burden, but we will always seek the solutions backed by the best global minds.
