Everything you need to know about a vaccine-preventable diseases
For months, Alberta's doctors have chimed over and over again: Get vaccinated against the measles.
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As cases have surpassed 1,000, leading to a higher likelihood of severe symptoms and possible fatalities, the chime has grown louder, accompanied by province-wide campaigns to educate Albertans on the importance of the vaccine.
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It's an outbreak of infection and dismay, as the disease was once declared eradicated from the province, thanks to a robust vaccination campaign in the 90s that saw 95 per cent of the community immunized against the virus.
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It's a vaccine-preventable disease — 'the vaccine prevents the individual from contracting the disease,' according to Dr. Craig Jenne, infectious disease specialist, and in turn also protects others who aren't able to get the vaccine.
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The list of vaccine-preventable diseases is long — The World Health Organization lists 25 diseases for which vaccines are available — but the impact of vaccines can vary, from being able to mitigate symptoms to being able to eradicate a virus from a community.
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'COVID or influenza for example, those vaccines may not be able to block infection but they do significantly reduce risk of hospitalization,' Jenne said.
It's as obvious as it sounds — with a couple of caveats.
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A vaccine-preventable disease can be prevented by taking a vaccine, usually before infection, but for some, even after, if the infection was immediate.
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The effect of a vaccine can range, according to Jenne, from reducing, if not fully preventing, the chance of severe disease to preventing infection altogether.
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The influenza virus for example can also be found in animals and mutates frequently, rendering a single vaccine ineffective at preventing it entirely. But vaccines can still be effective at mitigating the symptoms of the virus.
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'New variants pop up that that are pretty good at dodging the full protection of the vaccine,' Jenne said.
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'Yet ongoing clinical studies show that people that are vaccinated and have received updated vaccines remain protected, at least largely, against hospital admission, ICU admission and death. So that says that they're still working.'
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'They're preventing the disease but they're maybe not preventing infection altogether.'
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