Milestone Three: Analysis Outline

IMMUNIZATION 7

Immunization

Mary Jones

IHP-610-X3562 Health Policy and Law

Southern New Hampshire University

01/29/2017

Immunization

This is the process through which a person is made resistant to a certain disease typically by administering a vaccine. This is done in a controlled way so that the body is not put at the risk of contracting the said disease. The process helps the body’s immune system fight of the disease by providing the body's immune system with the skills for handling a certain attack so that, should the same disease attack the body in the future the body's immune system will have the skills to respond appropriately. Exposing the body immune system to a certain disease during immunization helps the body retain the skills/abilities through immunological memory that it can use in the future (Pickering, 2012).

There are different elements of the immune system involved in this process. This is what the immunization improves as a way to ready them for a possible future attack. They include the T cells, B cells, and the B cell antibodies produced. The memory T and B cells are tasked with the quick recovery in the case of a second attack of the same disease.

Forms of Immunization

Active immunization

This happens when one comes naturally into contact with a microbe; the body then takes measures to protect its self, by producing antibodies and other forms of defense systems against this microbe (Tunkel, 2008). When this microbe attacks in the future the body will be ready with the steps it took within the first time it got attacked to eliminate the microbe even faster than before

Passive Immunization

This is the introduction of pre-synthesized elements into the body; these elements are already capable of dealing with a particular foreign element such that the body does not need to produce anything so as to fight the disease in question. Antibodies are the most widely used for passive immunization. Passive immunization produces fast results as the body receives antibodies and only has to apply them to attack a certain disease. The disadvantage of this, however, is that these results are not long lasting. This is because the antibodies used are quickly broken down by the host's body and since the body didn't get to learn how to make more their advantage end the moment the antibodies are gone.

A good example of passive immunization is the transfer of antibodies from mother to fetus during pregnancy. This help protects the fetus from foreign molecules before and shortly after birth. Other examples include harvesting antibodies from animals that were first injected with snake venom to make their bodies produce antibodies that can eliminate the effects of the snake venom, then get these antibodies into the body of a snake bite victim. These transfer of antibodies help the snake bite victim heal from the snake bite but these healing properties end as soon as the body breaks down the antibodies.

Vaccination

This is the most common form of immunization it works by introducing vaccines into the body system, these vaccines act against disease-causing microorganisms. Without these vaccines, the body's immune system would not be well equipped to deal with these microorganisms. This technology can be furthered to make it possible to use other body molecules for immunization, though this is still being developed, there are experimental vaccines applying this technology to attack the likes of nicotine and ghrelin and provide better results for the affected.

Immunization is mostly preferred as it is the best and easiest way to protect both children and adults against future attacks of deadly diseases. It not only helps protect life but also help develop the human body defense system. Through immunization, certain diseases that destroyed entire civilization in past years have almost been completely eradicated from the world.

History

Before the invention of vaccination, people became immune to infectious diseases, by contracting the disease in question and surviving them. This was referred to as inoculation although this term was mostly used in reference to the prevention of cowpox. Inoculation was the method used to prevent against some infectious disease of the early 18th century before the introduction of inoculation with other diseases which was later known as vaccination (WHO, 2017).

Why continue immunizing

The question of what are the advantages of continuing with immunization despite the reports from the media of some of the diseases we immunize against almost being eradicated is common. The answer to this question is, there are remnants of these diseases trapped in the genes of all of us. Through continued immunization, these diseases are kept at bay without the possible of flaring up and causing an epidemic. Stopping immunization would lead to the introduction of people with active cells of these diseases in the society.

Stakeholders

In the state of Evergreen state, the stakeholders of the immunization process were the state’s leaders, parents, teachers, nurses and businessmen. The roles of these stakeholders were, the state’s leadership adopted an immunization legislation that advocated for a mandatory immunization of students in public schools and healthcare workers. The parents were to give consent to their children to be immunized. Teachers played the role of overseeing and funding the process of immunization since it was to be carried out in a schools. The nurses were to conduct and monitor the immunization process. The businessmen determined the acceptance or denial of the process as what they decided applied for almost all the business men in the state.

Legal risks

The legal risks associated with immunization include issues of parents offering waivers that exempt their children from being vaccinated. These wavers are allowed by law if they are based on either medical or religious beliefs cases. Though not widely applied these wavers could result in the child not being immunized. There is also a risk of one getting injured when being immunized, in children this risk increases and makes the whole immunization process to be lengthier. The process of immunizing children is faced with the risk of children being sick and either the medication they are taking or the illness they are suffering from being likely to react negatively with the contents of the immunization drug. Immunizing such a child would put him/her in more risk and probably risk his/her life. Legal issues could come up when the composition of the medicine being used for immunization is contaminated and administering it end up putting more lives at stake.

Malpractice

Though immunization has saved millions of lives from diseases that would have otherwise led to deaths, there are also cases of instances where the same process has led to the patients having side effects post immunization or other complications. This happens when there is a mix-up where a patient receives the wrong drug leading to the patient experiencing negative effects. The doctor or the nurse involved in the immunization process could also administer the wrong dosage which could lead to hurting the patient.

Value conflict

The main ethical issues that are faced in the process of immunization include the right to consent from the patient agreeing to the immunization. This question applies to a greater extent when it comes to children. Parents have the authority to demand that their children be exempted from this progress. These indicate the problem facing the immunization process.

References

Teitelbaum, J.B., & Wilensky, S.E. (2017). Essentials of health policy and law (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN:978-1-287-05754-3

CDC. 2014. Why childhood vaccines so important. Retrieved from 8

World Health Organization.2017. Immunization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topiccs/immunization/en/

Pickering, L. K., Baker, C. J., & Kimberlin, D. W. (2012). Red Book, (2012). American Academy of Pediatrics.

Tunkel, A. R., Glaser, C. A., Bloch, K. C., Sejvar, J. J., Marra, C. M., Roos, K. L., ... & Whitley, R. J. (2008). The management of encephalitis: clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 47(3), 303-327.