Answers to 10 Common Questions about Vaccination

If you are interested in something specific and do not want to read everything — here is a list of questions, the answers to which are in the article. Just click and read what interests you:

How important is vaccination? How do vaccines work? How to get vaccinated correctly? What to do if you do not know which vaccines you have and which ones are missing? Where can you get vaccinated? How much do vaccines cost? Does the vaccine protect 100%? They say you can get sick or die from the vaccine. Is it true? There are constant scandals around vaccines in Ukraine, are they of good quality? Are there any vaccines available? What to do if they demand money for vaccination, discourage vaccination, say that the vaccine is over, without offering alternatives?

How important is vaccination? Every morning you reluctantly wake up and start doing your things. Sometimes your back hurts or you catch a cold, this can spoil your mood a little. «When will they invent a pill for all diseases?» you think irritably and continue to brush your teeth half asleep.

And it has already been invented. To the extent that scientific progress allows. Vaccination has rid the world of many terrible diseases. We and our children can protect ourselves from birth from:

diphtheria

poliomyelitis

tetanus

whooping cough

hepatitis B

measles

rubella

tuberculosis

mumps

You can say: «It doesn’t count, I don’t even know what these diseases are.» That’s right! Because mass and almost compulsory vaccination has almost eradicated them! People from the 18th century would vividly describe these delights to you, unfortunately, none of them lived to our days. Then it was generally difficult to live to old age. Most of the mortality in Europe was caused by infectious diseases. About 20% of all deaths were due to smallpox alone. The first vaccine in the world, in fact, was created against it. This was a crazy and interesting story, which we wrote about in more detail here.

How do vaccines work? Imagine yourself as a national leader with a powerful army. Your body is not very different from a state, so immunity is quite a military force. The army needs to be kept combat-ready, right? For this, regular exercises are conducted — they conditionally shoot from cannons at wooden layouts. So vaccination is such a training. Fragments of a real pathogen — «targets» — are introduced into the body. Immunity «aims» at them. Learns to recognize the pathogen and destroy it, and then «remembers» how it did it. Now if a real microbe sticks to your territory — immunity will destroy it without allowing the disease.

How to get vaccinated correctly? There is a national vaccination calendar from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, it describes when and which ones need to be done. It coincides with a similar European one:

By the way, the diphtheria and tetanus vaccine needs to be updated every 10 years! We wrote more about this using the example of diphtheria here.

What to do if you do not know which vaccines you have and which ones are missing? Look in your medical card, all information should be stored there. If the data could not be found or some vaccinations are missing — they can be done at any age. Even if it will be the second time — nothing terrible will happen.

Where can you get vaccinated? With your family doctor, therapist or pediatrician with whom you have signed a declaration.

How much does the vaccine cost? All mandatory vaccines are free for both adults and children in public hospitals.

Does the vaccine protect 100%? In most cases, but not always. Even if you get sick after vaccination (which is unlikely), the disease will be much easier.

They say you can get sick or die from the vaccine. Is it true? If everything is normal with immunity, there is no HIV or Epstein-Barr infections, ARVI, chemotherapy and similar restrictions — it is unrealistic to get sick. Anaphylactic reactions (allergy) are possible, but these are very rare cases and in hospital conditions they will help you. The benefits of vaccination are much higher than the risks. You can read more on the World Health Organization website.

There are constant scandals around vaccines in Ukraine, are they of good quality? Immunobiological production is a very complex thing, which is difficult to bring to the market and which is backed by big money. It doesn’t matter, Indian vaccine or French — the requirements for them are the same and the vaccines meet them. There were scandals around the purchase of expired vaccines or «kickbacks». In any case, you can make sure the vaccine is suitable before the injection. Again, look at the World Health Organization website.

Are there any vaccines available? Screams that there are no vaccines — hysteria. You can familiarize yourself with the current stocks throughout Ukraine at the link.

What to do if they demand money for vaccination, discourage vaccination, say that the vaccine is over, without offering alternatives? This is classified as obstruction of vaccination and is a violation of the law. Report this case to the hotline of the National Health Service of Ukraine at 1677. They will advise you on what to do and figure out the situation.

Thank you for reading to this point. And remember, vaccination is your duty to humanity.