April 25th, 2016 is the 31st National Child Vaccination Day in China, and "Vaccination-Protecting Health" is the theme of this year’s activities.
Children, especially newborns, are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases because of the imperfect immune system. Vaccination can prevent injury, disability and death caused by diseases including diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, whooping cough, pneumonia, poliomyelitis, rubella, tetanus and various epidemic encephalitis.
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, vaccination can avoid 2 million to 3 million deaths every year. Taking DTP vaccine as an example, in 2014, about 86% (115 million) infants in the world received three doses of DTP vaccine, thus avoiding infectious diseases that can lead to serious diseases, disability or death. By 2014, the coverage rate of DPT vaccine in 129 countries has reached at least 90%.
The improvement of vaccine coverage has greatly improved the living conditions of children. Therefore, vaccination is an important tool to protect children’s health. It is also very necessary to vaccinate children in time and accurately. Below we will explain the principle, safety and public access to information of vaccination from several different aspects.
How can vaccines protect children’s health?
Vaccines are artificially prepared pathogen analogues or inactivated pathogens. Vaccination can make the body’s immune system "remember" the pathogen. Once the real pathogen invades, it can immediately produce antibodies and remove the pathogen. For children, vaccination can help them to strengthen their "memory" and defense against pathogens and protect them from harm when their own immune system is imperfect. So vaccination is very necessary.
How to determine the safety of vaccine?
As a special drug, vaccine has been strictly controlled and supervised from research and development, production, circulation to use. As parents, you can determine the safety of the vaccine from the following three aspects:
First, the electronic supervision code. The drug supervision department of our country has strict supervision over the production and circulation of vaccines. Each vaccine has an ID number "electronic supervision code", and each vaccine has one code. Parents can find this code on the product packaging box of the vaccine, and then query it on the website of "China Drug Electronic Supervision Platform". The production and circulation of vaccines will be inquired by parents in the database, and parents can inquire whether the vaccines vaccinated by their children are under normal supervision.
Second, the vaccine temperature indication label. It is a circular piece of paper (as shown in the following figure). The color of the circular reference ring is the standard color, and the box inside the reference ring is coated with paint sensitive to light and heat. Once the vaccine leaves the cold chain for a long time in the circulation process, the paint in the box will change color, and the vaccine with serious color change can be judged as invalid. Fig. a shows the color of the indicator label of the vaccine just delivered from the factory; The box color in Figure B begins to get darker, but it is still lighter than the ring color, and the vaccine can still be used; Figure C, the color of the box is consistent with the color of the reference ring, indicating that the vaccine has been out of the cold chain for too long and the vaccine has failed; In Figure D, the color of the box is darker than the color of the reference ring, and it is also judged that the vaccine is invalid. It should be noted that the vaccine temperature indication label must be used within the shelf life of the vaccine, and the vaccine beyond the shelf life, regardless of the color of the label, is invalid and cannot be used. The vaccine temperature indication label is not mandatory, and parents can choose it by themselves.
Third, choose qualified inoculation sites to inoculate children. If parents have doubts about the qualification of the inoculation point, they can consult the local health administrative department or its designated department, and the consultation channel can be inquired from the government website of the relevant department.
Will there be adverse reactions after vaccination? How to avoid it?
Vaccine is an analogue of a pathogen, even an inactivated pathogen itself. Because of individual differences and imperfect immune system, it is possible for some children to have adverse reactions to it. Adverse reactions include redness, pain and induration at the inoculation site, or symptoms such as fever and fatigue, which can be cured by general treatment. The probability of strong adverse reactions such as thrombocytopenic purpura is extremely low, with only a dozen cases every year. For these children, the state also has corresponding treatment and compensation measures.
In order to avoid adverse reactions during vaccination to the greatest extent, parents should be aware of their children’s physical condition before vaccination. For example, whether you are allergic, what are you allergic to? Are you sick recently, acute or chronic, and is the chronic disease in acute attack or stable period? Under normal circumstances, if children are allergic to any ingredients contained in the vaccine, they cannot be vaccinated; For children with allergies whose allergens are unknown, because of the possibility of being allergic to the vaccine, parents should check their allergic history with doctors before deciding whether to vaccinate; It is not suitable for vaccination in acute attack period, and some vaccines can be selectively vaccinated in stable period of chronic diseases. In a word, parents need to communicate with doctors before vaccination. Different vaccines have different requirements for physical condition, and doctors will give reasonable suggestions. 24 hours after vaccination, you should pay close attention to your child’s condition. If you have any adverse reactions, you should seek medical advice in time.
How to get official information?
If parents still have doubts about their children’s vaccination, please visit the official website of "China Center for Disease Control and Prevention", which has a "Vaccine and Vaccination" column under "Health Theme". The page is as follows:
The contents include the basic knowledge of vaccines, precautions for vaccination, and the "Report on Abnormal Reaction of Vaccination". Any adverse reaction of the vaccine will be recorded, and if there is any problem, it will be controlled and will not be allowed to develop.
At this point, parents should understand how important it is to vaccinate their children in time; I also know that the vaccine itself is a safe drug; In addition, there are also measures to avoid and deal with the adverse reactions of vaccines; If you have any questions you don’t understand, you can go to the hospital to consult a doctor, and you can also get information through the official website yourself.
Vaccination is the right of children and the responsibility of society. May the whole society realize the importance of vaccination and help children grow up healthily!
The article was produced by China, a popular science student, and was authorized to be published in the column "Learning Science with Xiaobian" of CCTV. Please indicate the source for reprinting.
Production: Wang Haina, the "Weiming" popular science team of Institute of Microbiology, China Academy of Sciences
Producer: computer network information center
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