Vaccination Benefits the Whole Community

When you get vaccinated, you not only protect yourself against vaccine-preventable diseases. You also reduce the risk of diseases spreading among family members, school mates or work colleagues, friends, neighbors and other people in the community.

When the majority of a given population is vaccinated, disease-causing organisms can no longer spread within the community. This is known as community immunity (or herd immunity). In this way, vaccines indirectly protect others who are vulnerable to disease. These include:

• babies,
• children,
• the elderly,
• people with weak immune systems,
• cancer patients, and
• people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

Mass vaccination has lowered the global incidence of polio by 99% and reduced illness, disability and death from diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, flu, and meningitis. It has likewise resulted in a 79% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015 worldwide. Widespread vaccination is one of the main reasons why the number of COVID-19 cases in the country have been steadily declining.

Implementing mass immunization is vital to maintain community immunity, so that the diseases prevented by vaccination will not return.

Consult your doctor for more information on recommended vaccines. Get the recommended vaccines at the participating Watsons branch near you.

References:
https://vaccination-info.eu/en/vaccination/benefits-vaccination-community. Accessed 17 March 2022
http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/publications/GVAP_eng.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2022
https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/measles. Accessed 17 March 2022