Trey Hughes

ISM – Period 7

Ventola, C. Lee. “Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures

to Improve Compliance.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2016,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927017/.

• Easily transmitted diseases have declined in occurrence in many developed countries due
to widespread, nationwide immunization efforts of small children and infants.
• Annual vaccinations and immunization programs in the United States, particularly in
children, result in the avoidance of some 20 million illnesses and upwards of 40,000
deaths.
• Vaccinations benefit the public in two ways: the direct vaccination of a population, as
well as unvaccinated people having less exposure to said disease.
• Vaccinations have reduced the mortality rate of Diphtheria, Measles, Paralytic
Poliomyelitis, Rubella, and smallpox by 99.9% to 100%.
• Breakthroughs in vaccines have been continuous since their inception in the late 1700s,
including the advent of the Hib conjugate vaccine in the 1980s, dropping the infections
associated with this disease by 99%.
• Vaccinations have schedules for when they should be given, to ensure optimal public
safety within all age groups.
• Despite this vast benefits vaccinations have had on public health, in recent years,
rejection to vaccinations have resulted in outbreaks of rubella, mumps, pertussis, and
measles in the United States.
• When parents do refuse to vaccinate their child, it is usually on medical, religious, and
moral grounds.
• Another reason parents may object to vaccinations is because of their overwhelming
success in quelling diseases, hiding the risks these diseases still have.
• A more concerning reason parents may not vaccinate their child is due to the fallacies
that have spread about them, including adverse effects, with some people claiming that
certain vaccines may cause ADHD or autism, even though many scientific studies have
debunked this connection.
• Three measures have been suggested by the CDC’s Task Force on Community
Prevention Services in order to keep people informed and knowledgeable about vaccines,
including teaching parents, public education, and making vaccinations more accessible,
and, in some cases, free for uninsured patients.

This article was very informative on the history, effectiveness, and continuing issues regarding
vaccines, and ultimately reinforced the idea that vaccinations are an obligation to ensure public
safety and health for everyone.
 Trey Hughes
ISM – Period 7
Casey, Georgina. "Vaccines--how and why they work." Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, Feb.

2016, p. 20+. Health & Wellness Resource Center,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A444206192/HWRC?u=j084910009&sid=HWRC&xid

=f3657871. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

• The immune system is made up of innate and learned immune responses.

• Innate immune responses are the first reactions to a new, foreign pathogen. The immunity
this provides is biological and evolutionary, spanning back millions of years. It is also the
same among all humans.
• The innate immune system reacts very quickly to foreign pathogens, dispatching
macrophages, neutrophils, and NK or natural killer cells.
• Certain macrophages, such as antigen-presenting cells and dendritic cells, serve a vital
role in identifying and killing antigens.
• The dendritic cells stay in the tissue where the antigen was first identified for up to 6
hours before travelling to the closest lymph node to stimulate helper T-cells, creating
future immunity.
• Learned or acquired immune responses occur after the pathogen has been introduced for
the first time. It is comprised of B- and T-lymphocytes that identify and swiftly kill a
recognized pathogen. B-lymphocytes produce antibodies that are attached to wandering
pathogens in order for phagocytes to identify and kill them. T-cells include helper, killer
and regulatory T-cells, all of which help to hunt down infected cells to kill them, without
over-reacting. The training of these T- and B-cells is done over about a week.
• Once the danger is wiped out, both T- and B-cells reduce in number, leaving memory
cells in the occasion that the same pathogen should invade again.
• Live-attenuated vaccines are vaccines that cripple a pathogen before introducing it to the
body. These pathogens are harmless and generate a lasting immune response. One
limitation of live-attenuated vaccines is that they can only truly cover pathogens that
mutate slowly or that are not dormant.
• There are two types of non-living vaccines; the entire organism and pieces from a
pathogen, such as sanitized toxins or certain proteins from the pathogen’s structure.
• Adjuvants are substances that improve the immune system’s response to an antigen. The
most common adjuvant in vaccines is aluminum, which increase the number of
antibodies and also aid in causing T-cell diversification.
• Herd immunity occurs when a large percentage of the population have become immune
to a pathogen, thereby decreasing the likelihood an unimmune person comes in contact
with the pathogen.

This article was a very concise and comprehensive explanation of the immune system and the
role vaccines play in immunity, as well as the many categories of vaccines.
 Trey Hughes
ISM – Period 7

“Measles.” Edited by Laragh Gollogy, World Health Organization, World Health Organization,

12 Sept. 2018, www.who.int/immunization/diseases/measles/en/.

• Measles is one of leading causes of death among children around the world.
• This is despite the fact that vaccines for measles are available and effective.
• The World Health Organization plans to eliminate measles and rubella in the regions it
covers by 2020.
• Measles is transmitted by bodily fluids, mainly saliva or mucus. The early symptoms
show up about a week and a half after the initial infection.
• Symptoms include high fever, bloodshot eyes, runny nose, and white spots surfacing
inside the mouth. A rash also develops on the face and neck a few days after the initial
symptoms.
• Measles is worse for malnourished children who are in need of vitamin A or have
compromised immune systems due to HIV/AIDs or other weakening diseases. This can
lead to pneumonia, blindness, dehydration, and encephalitis.
• Worldwide, between 2000 and 2016, measles deaths have dropped from 550,000 to
90,000 deaths, an 84% decrease.
• However, in 2016 alone, around 7 million people were impacted by measles.
• Measles is still fairly common in parts of Asia and Africa, and the majority of deaths
from measles are in countries with low incomes and poor health regulations and
infrastructure.
• The current vaccine for measles has been used since the 1960s, and is cheap, safe, and
highly effective.
• The World Health Organization advises that vulnerable children should be given two
doses, whether it be just for measles or for mumps and rubella.

This article by the World Health Organization was very educational regarding how measles
affects the world, as well as symptoms and prevention techniques, especially with using a
combination of vaccines.