Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives (Field Experience Log)

Name of the Event:

Health Policy/ The Importance of Vaccination for School-Going Children

Sponsors: American Health Association

Rockwood, Tennessee County

Preparation for the Event:

Newspapers and Magazines

Use of Posters

Social Networking Sites

Place, Date, Time, and Length of Event: The event was scheduled to take place in Ridge View Elementary School on the 17th of January 2020 from 9 am to 1 pm.

Topic under Discussion:

The prevention of disease through the use of vaccines and vaccination and fighting misinformation about vaccination.

Names of Participants: American Health Association

Tennessee County Officials

Ridge View Elementary Teachers

Ridge View Elementary Parents

Ridge View Elementary Students

Brief Description of The Event: The event was successful and all parties concurred that there was a huge gap to be filled when it comes to vaccination in schools. The AHA and Tennessee County promised sponsorship for the vaccination runs that would happen once every year. The vaccination policy was discussed and its feasibility report was presented (Levin, 2020). All parties pledged their cooperation and Ridge View Elementary fraternity was very pleased with the developments of the event.

Analysis of the Health Policy Issue and Its Implications for Healthcare:

Vaccination is not only a public health issue but is also a policy issue. In numerous states all over the country, it has become very contentious as there has been a polarization in the views and perceptions that people have on vaccination. One school of thought is that vaccination is harmful, especially to toddlers, as it literally introduces a strain to the body in order to allow it to learn how to fight the disease (Vivion et al., 2020). This view is heavily misguided and has been brought about by constant and misconstrued information that is part of misinformation in the country. Vaccines are the best chance that any individual has, adult or child, to fight a disease or virus that is not only communicable but highly infectious. Needless to say, parties who support this view are heavily opposed to the introduction and implementation of policies that would make vaccination mandatory, not only in schools but also in the local and federal governments. On the other hand, there are those that believe in the effectiveness of vaccination despite the minute risk that vaccination brings. Normally, vaccines are effective more often than they are not. This effectiveness is built on by following the number of vaccinations and doing them at the right time. For instance, if a vaccine is to be administered in 2-5 years of age, then it should be administered within this window. This school of thought believes in the tried and tested effectiveness of vaccines (Schaffner et al., 2020). Consequently, parties who support this view support the implementation and introduction of policies that would make vaccination mandatory in schools, local and federal governments.

Vaccination is probably one of the best health solutions that were ever discovered. Vaccines promote health by teaching the immune system to recognize and fight disease. Health experts correlate it to anti-malware software in that it tackles the problem before it even takes root. A good example is the measles vaccine that, like other vaccines, introduces a harmless strain of measles into the body allowing recognition and combatting by the immune system (Clemens, 2020). This way, when the individual contracts measles, the body will be able to quickly detect and neutralize the disease.

The event was critical to ensuring that all concerned parties and stakeholders collaborate to ensure that school-going children are protected from any communicable diseases through adequate vaccination that would be promoted by a policy that would make it mandatory for school children to be vaccinated. The importance of this is that all school children in the county will be vaccinated and, therefore, not only protected but also protecting other members of the community. By being mandatory, the policy ensures that there is uniformity and some children do not get left behind (Cataldi et al., 2020). Not vaccinating all of the children would mean that some would have the potential to contract communicable diseases and to spread them to other pupils, teachers and school staff, their parents, and consequently, other members of the community. As such, the school environment is one of the best places to ensure that communicable diseases are prevented beforehand.

By ascertaining the safety of vaccination, the event would fight misinformation about vaccines and ease the doubts of any parties when it comes to the safety of vaccines. The county government and AHA promised to provide the vaccines and the specialists to administer them. The good thing about this drive is that the children and their parents would act as advocates for vaccination in the community and educate others on the need and importance of vaccination. As such, the education and information disbursed in this event would go beyond the school into the community and help fight misinformation about vaccination. This is crucial as in recent years more and more people are misled on vaccination such that parents unknowingly endanger the health of their children by not taking them to be vaccinated (Mehta-Lee et al., 2020). As a result, they endanger their health and the health of the community at large.

References