Return of eradicated and controlled diseases.

Vaccines.

A few days ago I read a note in which they mentioned the return of several diseases that were believed to be controlled, such as measles, whooping cough, etc. Well, the anti-vaccine movement is very strong today.

This movement began in 1998 when a magazine mentioned that vaccines developed autism in the people who had received it. (Many people around the world were vaccinated and we do not develop autism). But in 2010 the magazine retracted because the results had been manipulated.

There are endless myths about vaccines, but what are they?

A vaccine is a biological medicine made up of microorganisms (bacteria or viruses), killed or attenuated, or products derived from them, whose function is to generate immunity in the body against a certain disease, stimulating it to produce antibodies that will protect it against future infections, because the immune system will be able to recognize the infectious agent and destroy it.

The microorganisms of the vaccines as already mentioned are dead or very weakened and do not represent any danger to the person, but it is enough for your immune system to react generating antibodies against it and with them acquiring an immune memory that will allow you to recognize that particular microorganism and eliminate it.

Effects.

The adverse effects of vaccines are very mild: mild redness, pain at the injection site, fever or muscle aches. This shows that vaccines are very effective and safe medicines. 

Importance.

Vaccines together with the purification of water have been the prevention measure that has contributed the most benefits to humanity. Diseases that were once epidemic and that led to high mortality are now eradicated worldwide such as smallpox, almost eradicated such as polio or measles, or controlled as hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, meningococcal meningitis or whooping cough. 

No other medicine has saved as many lives as vaccines, so not getting vaccinated or denying vaccination to children should not only be considered as an irresponsible act for their own health but also against society as a whole, as it can bring the return of diseases already forgotten in many countries.

Do not put your children's health at risk by believing those myths about vaccines, getting information does not cost anything.