Vaccines are the safest way to protect child’s health throughout life

Vaccines are amongst the greatest advances of modern medicine. They are the safest, easiest, and highly effective way to protect child health throughout life. Globally, they have slashed child mortality rates in half, saving millions of lives.

Thanks to high vaccination rates, parents today have been fortunate to grow up without seeing family or friends die or suffer life-long disability from diseases like measles or polio. Ironically, this is one of the reasons why some believe that vaccine preventable diseases are no longer a threat.

Indeed, routine vaccines in childhood have eliminated these diseases from many countries including North Macedonia, but failing to keep our children protected with vaccines, could quickly make all good to be undone. One such example is the measles outbreak in 2018-2019 which took the lives of children in our country and in many other countries. This is a reminder that we cannot take for granted immunization of children. 

Recent UNICEF research of self-efficacy, attitudes and perceptions of healthcare workers on routine immunization of children show that in the last 24 months vaccination teams have faced refusal (45%) and hesitation of parents for vaccination of their children (31%). These findings show the role of health workers is increasingly important not only in providing accurate information about vaccines but also communicating with parents and caregivers to get trust, showing empathy and understanding of concerns.

Thanks to generations of health workers and parents ensuring their children received their routine vaccinations, we can almost call diseases like polio and whooping cough things of the past.

Routine childhood vaccines have been rigorously tested and proven to prevent serious illness. Ensuring children are vaccinated means knowing they are protected.

Parenting can be scary, knowing child's health and happiness rests in the hands of parents. Routine childhood vaccinations make it easy to ensure children get the best start, free from the threat of serious disease.

We can't wrap children in cotton wool, but we can do the next best thing. Childhood vaccinations guard against life-threatening diseases, keeping children protected wherever they go.