An Argument for Continuing Vaccination Throughout Life

This paper suggests that modest benefits to life expectancy - and certainly to immune system health - could be made by establishing vaccine programs that continue throughout life, not just in childhood as is presently the case: "Infectious diseases remain a significant cause of [morbidity and mortality] in adults aged over 60 years, and many of these diseases are vaccine-preventable (VPDs). There is a pressing need to promote a lifelong vaccine schedule to increase vaccination against VPDs during the different stages of life. We outline the impact of vaccines on the burden of common infectious diseases and consider the negative clinical impact of VPDs in the unvaccinated population. We further illustrate that vaccine uptake is associated with a reduction in the burden of VPDs at any age of life, due to herd immunity. Disability-free and healthy aging is closely linked to childhood health and medical conditions in young adulthood. The midlife vaccine gap drastically impacts health in later life, especially in unvaccinated and older populations. These arguments underline the need for a preventive lifelong health perspective from childhood through old age."

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/rej.2010.1078

Comments

The problem with adult vaccines is that they still have Mercury-containing preservatives in them and I am allergic to all Mercury compounds.

Posted by: kurt9 at January 14th, 2011 5:31 PM

Indeed, vaccinations are still one of the simplest and most effective ways humans have to fight disease. I hope vaccination rates do increase among both adults and children, but the new-age religion/pseudo-science of "anti-vaccerism" may make that unrealistic. It's especially important for people like Kurt who depend on herd immunity to stay safe.

Posted by: Kim at January 16th, 2011 12:25 AM
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