EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF VACCINATION

Recently, the need for vaccination has suddenly become a subject of intense public discussion. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a leitmotif of many discussions on television, radio, and the Internet.

Medical professionals raise alarm and are convinced that it is high time to raise public awareness about the prevention of infectious diseases by vaccination.

The trend in recent years, in particular, of parents refusing to vaccinate their children en masse, is a serious concern for health professionals and, in the long term, threatens the health of the nation. It is surprising that one of the most effective and safest methods of fighting dangerous infectious diseases is being questioned.

The vaccine action mechanism is based on each pathogen containing specific particles — antigens by which our bodies can recognize them as foreign. For each antigen, our body produces its own protective protein: antibodies that neutralize the virus and signal the cells of the immune system to attack “the alien”. When first encountering an antigen, it takes an average of two weeks for the body to produce the appropriate antibodies. After the enemy is defeated, special “memory cells” remain in the body, which will activate the immune system much faster the next time it comes into contact with the same antigens. In this case, it will only take 1-2 days to produce antibodies, and the disease will be milder or will not develop at all.

In other words, a vaccine is a kind of “training alert" — a necessary dose of antigens to teach our immune system to recognize and fight the disease. The vaccination does not make us sick because the vaccine contains weakened or killed germs. But immunity, if properly vaccinated, is as persistent as that obtained naturally ¹.

Vaccination safety

has been improving every year, as the first generation of vaccines (whole-virion vaccines containing particles of live virus and giving an additional burden to the immune system) has long been replaced by the latest generation of subunit adjuvanted vaccines².

High safety profile of subunit adjuvanted vaccines. These vaccines:

do not contain live virus particles but only influenza virus antigens (highly purified haemagglutinin and neuraminidase surface proteins) at the WHO recommended dose;
are safer by reducing side-effects³;
is indicated in patients who have not previously received preventive vaccination (including people with allergic reactions) - by reducing the frequency of side effects⁴;
contain an adjuvant (a substance which, in combination with the immunogen, enhances its action), making it possible to reduce the antigen content of a subunit influenza vaccine to 5 µg, while maintaining a high level of safety and vaccine efficacy;
are produced in accordance with the world's most advanced GMP standards;
are non-allergenic - no preservatives or antibiotics are present, thereby reducing the risk of hypersensitivity reactions;
are available in a convenient individual syringe dose with a special needle, reducing the risk of vaccination painfulness.

There is a minimum list of contraindications to flu vaccination:

Colds and ARVI The vaccination can be given immediately after the fever release;
Children under 6 months of age;
Having an allergy to chicken protein and to a previous flu vaccination;
The exacerbation of chronic disease.

It is easy to conclude that it is much safer to get vaccinated against the flu than to contract flu, which will be accompanied by a high fever, cough and possible complications, and be treated with pills and potions, while not only dropping out of society for no less than weeks (bed rest must be observed!), but also becoming a potential propagator of a dangerous disease.

The efficacy of vaccination in combating serious diseases has long been proven. The world's first vaccine was created as far back as 1796. An English doctor, Edward Jenner, deliberately infected a boy with cowpox in order to shield him from another, deadly variant of the disease — natural or black smallpox. Since then, many years have passed and vaccination has become one of the main methods of combating dangerous infectious diseases, many of which have been almost completely eradicated, and some of which have been eradicated forever. With the advent of preventive vaccination worldwide, natural smallpox (or black smallpox) has ceased to exist; significantly fewer cases of polio, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, pertussis, rubella, measles, etc. are being registered⁵

However, vaccination is particularly effective when dealing with seasonal diseases that are epidemic in nature, such as influenza.

The influenza virus is insidious and has the ability to change its antigens rapidly. It is this property that prevents the immune system from remembering them once and for all, and us from getting a flu shot just once in a lifetime. This is why we get the flu (unless we get vaccinated strictly once a year) every time as if our immune system has never encountered it: because each time we are faced with a new virus against which we have no immunity.

This is why regular influenza vaccines are so important. Each year, the composition of influenza vaccines is updated according to WHO recommendations on which strains will be spread in the then current season. The efficacy of flu vaccination is therefore multiplied by the fact that the new medicinal products contain the strains of influenza predicted by the WHO to be active this year.

How does vaccination take place

A modern influenza vaccination with the medicinal products of the latest generation is a safe and virtually painless procedure that takes only a few minutes.

A qualified vaccination specialist will ask you several questions (whether you have had an acute respiratory viral infection or cold less than two weeks before vaccination; whether you are allergic to chicken protein; whether you have a fever or an acute chronic disease on the day of vaccination), and conduct a preventive check-up. The vaccine, in a convenient individual syringe dose, is extracted from a completely sterile factory pack. The syringe is fitted with a special needle, making the vaccination procedure virtually painless.

1. Preventive Vaccination.Lecture for Practical Doctors/ Edited by Academician Y.V.Lobzin.-SPb.2012.-pp: 286; 2. Brico N.I. Influenza preventive vaccination: successes and prospects // Safety in Medicine. 2011. No. 9. pp: 93-96.; 3. Harit S.M., Lioznov D.A., Ruleva A.A., Friedman I.V., Chirun N.V., Apryatina V.A. Comparative assessment of reactogenicity and immunogenicity of commercial influenza inactivated polymer-subunit vaccines Grippol Plus, Influvac subunit, and Vaxigrip split vaccine .// Epidemiology and Preventive Vaccination 2017. no. 2. (93). pp: 24-31; 4. Galitskaya M.G. Bokuchava E.G. Necessity and safety of flu vaccination in children with allergic diseases. Advantage of a reduced antigenic load vaccine.//Allergology and immunology: news, opinions, and training. 2013. No.2. pp: 1-6.; 5. Preventive Vaccination. Lecture for Practical Physicians/Eds. Academician Y.V.Lobzin. -SPB.2012.-pp: 286.