Half of Pregnant Women Unprotected From Flu: A 2017 Overview - Essay Sample

Introduction

The flu has become a critical disease affecting children and aged people. A pregnant woman is required to be protected from the problem to avoid spreading to the child. However, in 2017, half of pregnant women have been protected against the flu (World Health Organization, 2015). Due to this ratio, a large number of pregnant women remain unprotected. Usually, flu shots assist in preventing pregnant females and their newborn children from potentially critical problems during and after pregnancy.

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In 2009, about 30 percent of pregnant women had been protected against the issue (World Health Organization, 2015). BY 2017, the government of America has played a vital role in protecting a pregnant woman against the flue (World Health Organization, 2015). More campaigns have been established to assist pregnant women in acquiring protection. The approach has become a critical approach which has assisted in reducing the risk of young children from being affected by flu. It is recommendable that a pregnant woman should protect the child several months before giving birth.

Whooping cough has been another critical medication that is applied to pregnant women. The vaccine assists in preventing the women and babies from acquiring the flu by introducing antibodies in the body. According to World Health Organization (2015), aged people are required to be vaccinated against the flu every year. The concept reduced the high chance of acquiring the risk. In some cases, it is crucial to engage vaccination in a group since it is more effective in preventing the spread.

When a person is vaccinated against the flu, they are considered safe. During vaccination, victims experience muscle pain for a particular time (World Health Organization, 2015). Usually, most influenza vaccines are manufactured using eggs, and they are encouraged to be used by people who have egg allergies. Nevertheless, influenza vaccines are not encouraged to those individuals who have a critical allergy.

Usually, repeating annual influenza vaccination reduced the infection rate. Evidence has been illustrated on how continuous vaccination minimizes the effects of particular influenza (Sullivan, Price, & Regan, 2019). Therefore, the government should formulate a system that encourages annual vaccination among pregnant women and aged people (Lomax, Cheung, Noakes, Miles, & Calder, 2015). After a child has been born, the vaccine should be applied to prevent season infection. Poor application of the vaccination has been associated with a high death rate, which is caused by flu.

According to World Health Organization (2015), the elder benefits little from the vaccination since they are susceptible to poor antibody performance. In recent years, there has been a decrease in the effectiveness of influenza vaccination (Thommes, Kruse, Kohli, Sharma, & Noorduyn, 2017). This has been triggered by a high chance of infection among people above the age of 50. There is a high dose of flu medication that most states have embraced. These medication has been seen to be more effective on preventing the effect of the disease.

According to World Health Organization (2015), vaccinating aged people with high dose drugs increases immune performance. As such, the immune system is more effective in fighting against the disease and hence reducing the death rate (Simon, Hollander, & McMichael, 2015). The government of America is working closely with pharmaceutical companies to improve the research on the effect of the disease.

The government of America has been pushing for the application of influenza vaccines, which contains the MF59.1 adjuvant. However, the concept has created a lot of arguments on the importance of the drugs on the flue protection to elders (World Health Organization, 2015). In which, some have argued that the application of MF59.1 adjuvant has become an alternative mode of prevention, especially people above the age of 65 years (Simon et al., 2015). Additionally, people who work with these aged people are likely to be affected by the disease. As such, the government has introduced the vaccination system to these nurses. The technique has assisted in preventing the disease from spreading to other elders in the same environment.

When using the vaccine, it is crucial to be careful to prevent side effects. For instance, the vaccine has been associated with the high rise of allergic reactions among old people. This has triggered other challenges that the elders are experiencing and hence, affecting their health condition. Additionally, the vaccine has been linked with runny nose and throat problems (Simon et al., 2015). The respiration issues tend to last for a few days after the elder has been given the vaccine. However, in comparison to the effect of the flu in health status, it is crucial for the government to use the vaccine.

Based on the condition of a person, the government uses both injection and nasal application. Both techniques are more effective in the prevention of the disease (Lomax et al., 2015). As a way of improving the condition, the government of America has collaborated with international organizations to prevent the high death rate, which is caused by the flu.

Figure 1: Influenza Vaccination

References

Lomax, A. R., Cheung, L. V., Noakes, P. S., Miles, E. A., & Calder, P. C. (2015). Inulin-type v2-1 fructans have some effect on the antibody response to seasonal influenza vaccination in healthy middle-aged humans. Frontiers in Immunology, 6, 490. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2015.00490.

Simon, A. K., Hollander, G. A., & McMichael, A. (2015). Evolution of the immune system in humans from infancy to old age. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1821), 20143085. Retrieved from https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.3085.

Sullivan, S. G., Price, O. H., & Regan, A. K. (2019). Burden, effectiveness and safety of influenza vaccines in elderly, paediatric and pregnant populations. Therapeutic advances in vaccines and immunotherapy, 7, 2515135519826481. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2515135519826481.

Thommes, E. W., Kruse, M., Kohli, M., Sharma, R., & Noorduyn, S. G. (2017). Review of seasonal influenza in Canada: Burden of disease and the cost-effectiveness of quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 13(4), 867-876. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:BVIR_CgFu3wJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_ylo=2015&scillfp=12617108815502125393&oi=lle.

World Health Organization. (2015). Report of the seventh meeting with international partners on prospects for influenza vaccine technology transfer to developing country vaccine manufacturers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25-26 March 2014. World Health Organization.