During a conference held on the occasion of the European Vaccination Week at the NIZP PZH-PIB, Professor Wysocki spoke about vaccination as a family responsibility for the health of loved ones. As he stressed, viral and bacterial diseases do not respect age limits.
Vaccination of older family members is especially important when a newborn arrives at home - children under 5-6 months of age do not have developed immunity, and against some diseases they may even be vaccinated in the second six months of life or even later (for example, against chickenpox). In the case of this disease, the most common source of infection for infants is older siblings attending kindergarten. For an infant, chickenpox is always a serious threat. - If a woman contracts smallpox in the first half of her pregnancy, the baby can be born with severe defects. And newborns with smallpox end up in the wards with complications that are difficult to control, says Professor Wysocki.
The cocooning strategy is nothing more than protecting the youngest member of the family, who lacks immunity of his own, by vaccinating everyone who is in close contact with him - in some countries (the US) visits to a home with an infant are often preceded by a request from the parents to be vaccinated against dangerous diseases (whooping cough, influenza, etc.). Vaccination significantly reduces the transmission of the virus.
An important aspect of vaccine prevention is immunization of pregnant women. This is especially true for influenza and whooping cough. Vaccination protects the mother, but also - thanks to the penetration of antibodies through the placenta - gives the child passive immunity for the first months of life. As the expert said, in the case of influenza, the reduction of disease in children for the first four months after birth reaches 50 percent. For whooping cough, according to a review of 22 studies, the effectiveness of protection against hospitalization reaches up to 94 percent, and against death - as much as 95 percent.
Protection also works the other way around. It is well known, for example, that children get the flu first and foremost, and they are the main reservoir of the virus - in other words, they bring it into their homes, infecting other family members. Children should therefore be vaccinated to protect seniors first and foremost. However, since flu vaccination among the youngest in Poland is "marginal," seniors must (should) take care of themselves. - Grandparents should be vaccinated if they have contact with their grandchildren," said Prof. Wysocki.
Another example of a positive coupling is pneumococcal vaccination, which not only protects children from severe infections, but can also reduce pneumonia in adults, while pneumococcal pneumonia is very dangerous among seniors. The positive effects of vaccinating children for seniors have been proven by a vaccination program in Kielce, where there has been a decrease in cases among the elderly as well. However, as Prof. Wysocki admitted, full elimination of the pneumococcal problem in adults by vaccinating children has not succeeded. Therefore, seniors should also take advantage of the vaccinations available to them against these bacteria.
