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Krista Sommers posted

The World Health Organization lists vaccine hesitancy as a global health issue. This is an issue that I take a personal and professional interest in. A current example of the resurgence in disease rates is the recent measles outbreaks, a disease that was nearly eradiated in the U.S. According to WHO (2019), “Measles, for example, has seen a 30% increase in cases globally. The reasons for this rise are complex, and not all of these cases are due to vaccine hesitancy. However, some countries that were close to eliminating the disease have seen a resurgence”.

As a nurse it is my duty to educate the population on the risks of not vaccinating, as well as educating the public against “bad science” that often times leads people to choose against vaccination. The nurse will also play a role in administering vaccines weather at clinics, or in the acute or primary care settings. I know personally we ask and offer flu and pneumonia vaccines in our emergency department to anyone who wants it, or in the case of the pneumonia vaccine to anyone that is eligible. “Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved” (WHO, 2019) It is easily deducible that an increase in deaths from preventable disease via vaccine means and increase use of health care. Its likely many of the people who died or became sick due to vaccine preventable disease used health care at some point during their illness. The more healthcare is being used to treat preventable diseases the higher the costs of health care are going to be.

Reference:

World Health Organization. (2019). Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019. In World

Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to- global-health-in-2019