Immunisations, also known as vaccines, play an important role in public health by preventing serious diseases. The safety of vaccines is rigorously studied and monitored by healthcare experts worldwide.
However, most medicines and vaccines also come with potential side effects, as the recent COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated. Despite possible adverse reactions, medicines are still judged by the reward, outweighing the risks to the general public.
If side effects are present, then not all the population will experience them. Furthermore, these negative reactions to certain vaccines are rare, and because of this, vaccines are considered to be safe for mass use.
Common immunisations include the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, polio vaccine, influenza vaccine, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, tuberculosis (BCG) vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, among others. These vaccines have significantly reduced the prevalence of life-threatening diseases across the globe.
Vaccines undergo rigorous testing in clinical trials before approval, and their safety is continually monitored once the vaccination process begins. While vaccines can cause mild side effects like soreness or fever, serious adverse events are rare. The benefits of vaccination in preventing diseases far outweigh the risks, and therefore, vaccines are considered safe.
Rare side effects of vaccines can include severe allergic reactions or other specific adverse events that need urgent medical attention. A severe allergic reaction is usually experienced rapidly after administration, and such adverse reactions usually happen on-site, where medical attention can be administered quickly.
Overall, the risk is considered to be extremely low of suffering such a major allergic reaction, considering the number of doses given out across the world to each individual vaccine.
Vaccines are also thoroughly evaluated for safety, and ongoing monitoring ensures rapid detection and response to any unexpected reactions that may occur. Vaccines also remain a choice, and an individual can choose not to have them at all if they so wish.
If a cluster of serious side effects is reported, then vaccine manufacturers are quickly notified and can investigate what part of the vaccine could be behind such side effects. This could be an individual ingredient that can be altered to make the vaccine safer.
What the recent pandemic did illustrate was that there is a deep mistrust of vaccines within certain societies. The reasons behind this are many and complicated, but the main concern is safety fears.
Fear and mistrust of vaccines can fuel vaccine hesitancy, as can health and safety concerns, especially if vaccines are rushed. However, most vaccines are not rushed and take years of human trials before they are deemed safe for mass use on the population.
The benefits of immunisations are clear to see, especially in children. Vaccines save lives, prevent severe illnesses, and protect vulnerable populations from being decimated by outbreaks of contagious diseases.
There are minimal risks associated with vaccines, and most of the extreme reactions to immunisations are rare. When compared to the numbers that experience few or any side effects at all, vaccine benefits vastly outweigh the risks that successful immunisation campaigns have on the human population.
Herd immunity and the prevention of the spread of deadly diseases among communities and beyond are the major rewards of vaccination. So is the prevention of premature death from treatable illnesses.
Public health experts and medical professionals universally endorse vaccination as one of the most effective tools in safeguarding individuals’ and community health. Because of this, the risks are considered to be worth the rewards, and this is why mass vaccination across the globe continues.