Immunization as a Treatment Process - Essay Example

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Institution Affiliation Date Introduction Immunization is a treatment process whereby children are made resistant and immune to disease infections through vaccine administration. This process is a mandatory childhood practice that parents should subject their children to at their early stages of development. A study conducted by the World Health Organization in 2016 concluded that immunization is responsible for eliminating life-threating infections that could otherwise cause over 3 million deaths every year across the globe. There are timelines and schedules that must be followed to ensure that this process is carried out in proper periods for desired outcomes. Subsequent disease and other infections are counteracted by stimulating a child’s body with vaccines. Parents who fail to observe immunization programs endanger lives of their children as the life-threatening infections will resurface in later stages of development. Over the last five years, several cases of physical injury and deaths caused by immunization failure have been reported in my hospital. Parents fail to observe the significance of specific immunization timelines and as such, the ultimate outcome of the whole process does not guarantee the elimination of dangerous diseases like polio and tetanus. There has been serious effects on the side of babies as some of them have been greatly affected by failure to observe the timelines appropriately. This problem has been compounded by the fact that the population around which the hospital is situated comprises vulnerable population with low levels of immunization knowledge. Baby health is the main focus of the hospital in its endeavor to uphold quality and safety in the general health sector. Hence, immunization of children becomes an issue of debate as parents fail to follow specific timelines when the vaccines are supposed to be applied. Several reasons have contributed to this situation in babies. Discussion Immunization Timelines Parents fail to take their babies for immunization in exact timelines. Vaccines work best when correctly given at the required stages of child development. The issue of vaccine safety has therefore been alluded to strict observation of immunization timelines as prescribed by health professionals and medical organizations. Parents who fail to observe these prescriptions subjects themselves and their children to tough economic and psychological burdens later in life. According to Rees et al. (2015) some parents make this delay with assumptions that vaccines are dangerous to the health of their children without knowing that there are risks involved. Bedford & Elliman (2000) says that immunization timelines are important and should be adhered to in order to reduce effects from the infections to the maximum. The World Health Organization also recommends that immunization timelines should be followed to ensure that vaccines are provided in times that they can work best. When parents take their children for immunization after the required time has passed, the vaccines will not work as required and therefore will not provide the benefits intended. In such conditions, vaccines fail to prevent diseases and transmission of infections. Vaccines will again fail to work thereafter since, unlike other drugs, they are products from the pharmaceutical industry that are administered to people who are healthier. Gavin et al. (2014) argues that vaccines provide individuals with temporary immunity that enables them to develop a short-term ability that prevents them from disease infections at their different stages of development. Largent & Mark (2012) argued that vaccines cause more serious complications and health problems that can possibly lead to limb paralysis, amputation of body parts, convulsions, loss of hearing and even death. However, it is worth knowing that this happens only if vaccines are not applied at the required timelines. A study conducted by Healy et al. (2014) showed that long term complications and death results from this interactions as vaccines cannot work effectively after their specified timelines in child development. The problem of accessing health facilities that offer proper immunization programs has been compounded by the enactment of legislation throughout the United Kingdom to promote the quality of health services and patience safety in general (Gavin et al. 2014). It is as a result of these legislations that regulatory agencies have been incorporated and strengthened to effectively oversee the quality and efficacy of vaccines that children are given. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that vaccines work best at the age below 2 years in children. The organization contends that it is possible to eradicate infections such as measles, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, haemophilus influenza and other infections by strictly observing the development of a child against the vaccine timelines. Children are at risk of these infections at their tender ages and therefore this is the time when vaccinations should be applied appropriately. Health organizations have confirmed that following vaccine schedules of children strictly is a measure which ensures that children are provided with the best protection in their various stages of growth and development. This assertion is supported by the fact that children get exposed to viruses and bacteria both directly and indirectly. However, the development of new research patterns has led to a wide range of issues as per the effectiveness of vaccines. The pharmaceutical industry has been faced by arguments that tend to question the efficiency of research and development of vaccines. According to the experts from the Survey Clinical Research Centre, execution of vaccine trials should be done in a highly controlled environment with appropriate advisories of gene therapy. This clearly illustrates that the role of testing and qualifying vaccines has shifted from being a single component of mucosal immunology to a unified system that entails not only mucosal immunology but also mucosal vaccine delivery and genetic modification. This is the same system that the Oxford Vaccine group has incorporated in analyzing the effectiveness of vaccines. Effectiveness of Vaccines The timelines at which the vaccines are applied have a direct connection with their effectiveness (Middleton et al. (2014). The recommended immunization schedule states that a minimum of 24 vaccinations for children at the age of 0-6 years can be made to protect them from up to more than 14 infections (Largent & Mark 2012). Vaccines work best in children as their immune systems are not yet strong enough to counter the infections. Bacteria and other viruses multiply because infants’ stomach are known to produce small amounts of acids that cannot eliminate them. As such, they remain to be the most vulnerable people that are affected by these infections. Public health experts and Doctors have compiled an optimal schedule that illustrate the periods which vaccines are supposed to be given to children. Parents delay this exercise by questioning the safety vaccines that their children are given, and this has led to ant-vaccine cases rising up to 40% (Middleton et al. 2014). Children pediatricians in this community have expressed concern in the failure of parents to catch up with the immunization periods and such delays and skips have made their children to be at risk of diseases. Nordin et al. (2014) argues that how effective the vaccines can be will depend on how they work to eliminate the life-threatening infections. Additionally, the extent to which vaccines can be effective depends on the timelines followed in the immunization process. This simply means that immunization timelines and schedules are important in the determination of the effectiveness of a particular vaccine. This is because person characteristics like health and age vary according to the immediate environment in which he/she grows and the kind of nutrition he/she undertakes. When the vaccines are applied at the specified timeline, a clear connection is created between the viruses that it is purposing to eliminate and that in the immediate environment. If this connection is not created, no benefit will be observed when it is applied. The connection between viruses and vaccines vary depending on the stage of development in which a child is (Baker et al. 2014). The connection is one of the measures that health practitioners employ as a public health intervention scheme in assessing the effectiveness of vaccines in eliminating diseases and infections in child growth and development. Another study results as explained by Middleton et al. (2014) shows that the effectiveness of vaccines depends on the season and stage of development in which the child was when the vaccine was given to him/her. The study concluded that vaccination timelines are as important as the vaccine itself as it contributes to the establishment of the connection between the virus and the vaccine. A study that was published by summer in 2016 showed that vaccines work best in particular groups and stages. The study challenged the effectiveness of vaccines across all stages of child growth and development and gave recommendations that observance of immunization schedule is a vital issue in application of vaccines. Immunization Delays and Barriers Immunization delays are also caused by health care barriers. A study conducted by the University of Columbia in 2009 revealed that lack of adequate and accessible health facilities are the primary barriers to immunization. Such barriers block parents from taking their children to timely immunization programs and as a result, they record a delay which poses more serious effects to their growth and development. Another study funded by the Medical Research Council Fellowship in 2012 showed that most children were under immunized because their parents could not access health facilities. The study also attributed this to the health system barriers like immunization costs and storage procedures. The United Kingdom government formulated health reforms in 2000, among them, free immunization services. The free services increased the number of children who got immunized significantly up to a level of 56% per district (Pickering et al. 2014). If the supply and distribution of vaccines is not made uniform, shortages are created in other parts of the country and therefore some people will not access them. Recent reports have cited inadequate or late supplies of measles, influenza, tetanus, and heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines to the hospital. This renders children with high chances of these infections vulnerable. Improper health education on vaccine safety is also one of the barriers that delays immunization in children. A general study conducted in the United Kingdom in 2014 assessing the extent to which parents regard vaccine safety revealed that one-third of the parents that were interviewed preferred non-immunization. Vaccination coverage is important since statistics compiled by pediatricians over the past years register a significant number of immunization delays that have led to more serious life infections and deaths. A 2012 study conducted by the Oxford Vaccine Group in the University of Oxford quoted parents’ lack of understanding on the importance of immunization to children. Most of the interviewed participants were recorded to have missed several immunization appointments in their community health centres. The study showed that teaching parents about the importance of immunization would wipe out some of the health barriers that delay immunization. It is important that parents are well informed of the next and over due dates to ensure that they maintain a strict checkout. Health care barriers of information should be made available and those that misinform the public counteracted with effective studies and data resources. According to Pickering et al. (2014) evidence shows that a 2-year immunization delay pulls children back by 2 years since their growth and development depends on the strength of their immune system. When barriers are created, health facilities will not be accessible and thus immunization activities will not take place. These health barriers cause delay that ends up creating a very weak immune system that cannot fight most infections. These delays also leaves children at risk of contracting seizures that will take more time to disappear even when treated. The Role of Parents in Immunization Regarding this, the hospital has drawn strategies to educate parents, especially women on the timelines for specific vaccines and the implications of strictly observing them to the letter. This will be done by supporting and developing different community health initiatives that champion for vaccine quality and safety and encourage the parents to take advantage of the free immunization services that the hospital offers. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention bureau, most parents find it difficult to acknowledge the safety and importance of vaccines to their children’s health. Parents raise questions that require answers from public health officers. Davies et al. (2000) states that such questions can be answered through comprehensive reforms of health education that can include public campaigns and start-up conversations. Local priorities should reflect the importance of vaccines to children and immunization records right from childhood to adulthood. Communication regarding immunization between general practitioners and parents should be made regular and efficient in a way that all concerns raised by parents are addressed in a clear and satiable manner. Parents are educated on the various types of vaccines and their significance in the growth and development of a child. The general practitioners provide adequate information on the risks involved, the nature and prevalence of various vaccines, benefits, side effects and follow-up procedures as may deem necessary. In this hospital, concepts of individual community and contributions of the same to the entire community are also discussed to ensure that vaccine education reaps the desired outcomes. The organization appraises parents who keep their children’s immunization records thus making them become more responsible and health conscious members of the community in which they live. Written documents are printed to reinforce information that is passed verbally to ensure that immunization concepts and procedures are clear in the minds of parents. These strategies have worked a lot in changing the varied perceptions that parents had regarding the process of immunizing their children. A study in Pediatrics 2013 unveiled the importance of educating parents on the role that vaccines play in the growth and development of their children. This study recorded a 20% increase in the number of parents that wanted their children immunized against infectious diseases after conducting a vaccination campaign across the country. Immunization schedules also serve as a great tool in educating parents on the importance of vaccines. These schedules reduce delays and makes parents to be more committed in observing immunization timelines. The hospital has conjoined efforts with the National Immunization Program in providing free immunization services to the community. Vaccines and Schedules Pickering et al. (2014) states that vaccines are effective if they are applied at the specified timelines and schedules. Proper medication and immunization is one of the health issues that is directly connected to the general safety and quality of health services. Baker et al. (2014) states that the quality and safety of health services starts from observing prescriptions correctly. On the same note, a research conducted by Burchett et al. (2014) showed that health practitioners are responsible for giving accurate and genuine prescriptions that are recommended following an evidence-based approach in treating diseases. Health and social concerns of people living in a community should be addressed using comprehensive channels that are free of barriers. Likewise immunization programs and schedules should be conducted in a precautionary manner to guarantee for best results. Vaccine safety is also guaranteed when the timelines and schedules are observed without any miss. The timing, number and frequency of immunizations should be made clear to ensure that parents and the public health personnel together with the health policy makers are understood as the most important health interventions geared towards the prevention of infections during the development of children. Health care professionals should investigate thoroughly the nature of various vaccines and their side effects before embarking fully on any immunization program. The administration of more than one vaccine at once to a child should be done on proper timing to certify that effects thereafter are properly handled. Vaccines work effectively in preventing diseases when the parties involved follow recommended immunization schedule and appropriate delivery done. As Baker et al. (2014) reports in his study, there should be high quality evidence that gives enough support and explain why a particular immunization schedule was chosen. The National Vaccine Evaluation Consortium has set up procedures for investigating a vaccine. This will help the hospital to effect immunization programs as the body analyzes infections and evaluates vaccines that are newly developed to ensure that they match well with the vaccination schedules recommended for them. The Role of Clinical Leaders The role a clinical leader plays in ensuring immunization safety and quality improvement cannot be underestimated. According to Pickering et al. (2014), clinical leaders are the most important stakeholders in the process of implementing health programs and services such as immunization. Clinical leadership comprises parents and general practitioners who synchronize all the activities that govern the process of immunization campaigns, exercises and follow-up. These leaders form immunization advisory committees that manages and controls the whole exercise. These leaders also form the epicenter of vaccine testing and investigation as they are more close to the users than the primary manufacturing industries. All immunization activities are governed with clinical accountability to ensure that children get the best services that would build a stronger immune system in them. General practitioners are central figures in the process of formulating and implementing immunization legal policies and frameworks. As such, they should be equipped with effective and adequate skills. To ensure that public confidence in immunization programs is achieved by the people who use the facility, the hospital management should conduct campaigns that will build a positive attitude towards this exercise. This can be better illustrated by the way in which the Primary Care organizations and Primary Care Trusts have been made successful due to the incorporation of such clinical leaders as immunization coordinators. It will be easier for the hospital to mitigate immunization challenges, health care facilities standardization and processes by putting in place strategies that will spearhead the whole process. High quality and patient safety cannot be achieved without the presence of highly effective general practitioners. Improvements to patient safety and quality health services have been established to be engineered by clinical leadership and clinician engagement. Clinical leaders ensure that comprehensive communication channels between parents and health practitioners is established since it is an hospital care requirement that upholds efficiency and integrity in immunization programs. The clinical industry is dynamic and therefore changes in concepts and roles are experienced more often (Pickering et al. 2014). For change to be handled effectively in the clinical industry, parents and the general practitioners should take full responsibility in sensitizing those who are likely to resist its implementation. Conclusion Immunization in babies is paramount in the determination of their future well-being. Errors occur often when parents and medical practitioners fail to observe timelines and schedules as required. When this happens, vaccines fail to work effectively and thus exposes children to risks of life-threatening infections as seen in the cases recorded in my hospital. These issues have led to the formulation and enactment of health polices by organizations such as the Health Research Authority and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Children get affected by infections that could otherwise have been prevented if vaccines were applied following the specified time schedules. Recommendations As illustrated, the improvement of patient safety and quality health services should be the top priority as far as immunization is concerned. Other hospitals can achieve this by ensuring that immunization schedules are strictly followed and that parents are well informed of the activity as they are key in ensuring the effectiveness of this whole process. This can also be ensured by making health facilities available and accessible. Proper vaccine trials should be conducted and reports made available to the public to build and draw confidence and trust. More often than not, parents avoid immunizing their children because they lack enough information on its importance and the likely effects that the children will encounter. References Baker, R., Willars, J., McNicol, S., Dixon-Woods, M., & McKee, L. (2014). Primary care quality and safety systems in the English National Health Service: a case study of a new type of primary care provider. 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