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Thea Alonzo
Mrs. Bowling
English II - 7
07 November 2018
Immunization Efforts in Developing Countries
Imagine a world where your wealth determined how long you would live. A world where if
you were wealthy, you’d be able to live long enough to see your grandchildren grow up and have
great-grandchildren. A world where being poor was the equal of living in the wild. For many in
developing countries, they don’t have to imagine it. It’s real life. Thus, the United States should help
developing countries with immunization. For one, it’s a win-win as controlling spread of disease is
one step closer to eradication. In fact, many in developing countries die preventable deaths and it’s
wrong for us to let it happen especially since we have the resources to do so.
Many argue that rather than helping others, the United States should focus on itself. While it
does have some appeal, they fail to realize that helping developing countries would be beneficial for
both parties. Contrary to what they say, control is a crucial step closer to eradicating disease. Ring
vaccination, an example of control, “includes complete isolation of diagnosed symptomatic patients
… and vaccination of (a fraction of) all contacts of the diagnosed patient.” (Kretzschmar, Hof,
Wallinga, and Wijngaarden, 2004). The idea is, that since there’s a “ring” of vaccinated peoples
around the infected, the disease cannot further spread outside of the ring. This technique was most
recently (and effectively) executed for Ebola. In 2015, during the Ebola outbreak, “the rVSVZEBOV vaccine was developed during the course of the epidemic and underwent a clinical trial
demonstrating 100% efficacy when vaccinating contacts and contacts of contacts of confirmed
Ebola cases.” (Merler, Stefano, et al., 2016). This strategy has shown to work. If the United States
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pushes efforts to aid developing countries with immunizations-- it means that we will be able to stop
potentially fatal outbreaks from becoming pandemics and gives us an opportunity to end it at the
source. Another, albeit more dated example would be smallpox where “used to control [the disease]
until the last naturally occurring case in 1977. “ (“Ring Vaccination for Smallpox”, n.d.). As we all
know it, smallpox the first ever disease to be fully eradicated from Earth. It was the first instance
where ring vaccination was employed and with the disease’s current status being nonexistent, it
once again proves control useful. During the construction of the Panama Canal, yellow fever was
rampant and prevented it from happening. In order to continue construction, they had to stop the
disease from getting to the workers. How would that work, you ask? Diseases aren’t humans, they
won’t listen to you! It’s all thanks to U.S. military physician General Walter Reed who instead of
finding ways to get rid of it, found a way to prevent it. He and three other men found the species
that transmitted the disease and “instituted vector control activities in Havana to destroy Aedes
aegypti breeding sites.” This caused construction to resume and establish one of the most crucial
contributions to global trade. (“Control of Yellow Fever in the Panama Canal Zone, n.d.) All these
examples showing the effectiveness of control in terms of eradicating disease and human health
further reinforce the idea that the United States should aid developing countries with immunization.
However, despite these technologies and techniques used to help fight disease, people still
die preventable deaths. With lack of technology ruled out, we can only point to one thing: resources.
In Africa, 1 in 5 children do not have access to vaccines and around three million die each year from
diseases that could have been prevented (“1 in 5 children in Africa do not have access to live-saving
vaccines”, n.d.). It’s no secret that Africa runs rampant with disease; the Global Vaccination Plans
had Africa set a goal of vaccinating at least 90% of its children. The primary diseases targeted were
diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Although it seems quite small compared to the long list of
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vaccinations we have to get in the United States, only 38% of countries within the continent were
able to accomplish the goal (Wiysonge, 2015). Unfortunately, besides Africa, developing countries
around the world suffer as well. It occurs within ALL developing countries, and as UNICEF states,
“Pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition are the primary killers of
children in the developing world.” In addition to that, around 30 million children are left
unimmunized due to health services being poorly provided from lack of funding, lack of
vaccinations, and misinformation of immunizations as a whole. The state these children live in
make them vulnerable to these diseases; their poverty leads to being unable to access quality health
facilities, their diets lack the vitamins and nutrition they need to have a proper immune system
and/or the way they live gives way for pathogens to thrive (“Immunization”, 2005). The way these
children survive depends on whether or not their immune system works properly. It’s unfair to let
this happen, especially in the large quantities these deaths are happening-- especially when life
expectancies in the United States have “doubled to almost 80 years (78.8 in 2015) with vast
improvements in health and quality of life.” (Ninde, 2018). How can we continue to enjoy our
extended life spans when others die, still not able to have that technology? It us up to us, the United
States, to initiate further efforts in immunization in developing countries.
The fact of the matter is whether we’re able to help those in need. Short, answer: yes, . We
can’t sit and allow these types of things to pass by, especially when we have the resources to help;
we’re already doing that with climate change. For one, USAID has teamed up with Gavi for a
vaccination alliance in order to aid these developing countries. They have “vaccinated more than
690 million children through routine programs, 760 million people through campaigns and saved
more than 10 million lives.” (“Immunization”, 2018). Imagine how much we’d be able to do if we
pushed efforts further! The immunization industry’s worth totals at around 8.4 billion USD. The
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influenza vaccine industry itself is about worth 2.2 Billion. We don’t have to push that much
funding for it-- but the impact would be astounding even if a small portion of that went to
immunization in developing countries. And as vaccination prices grow higher, some may contest
due to that very reason; we’ve already seen advancements towards making cost-effective vaccines.
For example, instead of using the traditional dead virus, scientists have looked at plants due to how
“various antigens against different diseases have been expressed in plants.” This alternative is not
only attractive in terms of allowing immunizations to become accessible, but also of how costeffective it is. Why plants? Well, they’re “more attractive to newly established companies or those
located in resource poor countries that can utilize the cost-effective production to generate good
amount of revenue. This can help to boost the economy of developing countries.” (Waheed,
Mohammad Tahir, et al., 2016). With vaccine alliances like USAID and the Gavi foundation, a
booming market for immunizations, and cost-effective technology being made, we can see that
we’re more than able to help these developing countries.
Immunizations are not something we can glance over and ignore. It’s not those commercials
you see on television that asks you to donate a cent for the starving children or the animals in need;
it’s a real-life issue which can affect and spread to all of us if we are not careful. But we know that
control of diseases boosts public safety, we know that many are suffering, and we know that have
more than enough resources to help. It’s up to us, the United States, to push forward and take one
(or more!) steps toward making a life without disease possible to all.
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Works Cited
“Immunization.” U.S. Agency for International Development, 25 Oct. 2018,
www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/maternal-and-child-health/technicalareas/immunization.
“Immunization.” UNICEF, 2 Mar. 2005, www.unicef.org/immunization/index_why.html.
Kretzschmar, Mirjam, et al. “Ring Vaccination and Smallpox Control.” Emerging Infectious
Diseases, vol. 10, no. 5, 2004, pp. 832–841., doi:10.3201/eid1005.030419.
Merler, Stefano, et al. “Containing Ebola at the Source with Ring Vaccination.” PLOS Neglected
Tropical Diseases, vol. 10, no. 11, Feb. 2016, doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005093.
Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization,
www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2676:2010-controlyellow-fever-panama-canal-zone&Itemid=40275&lang=en.
“Ring Vaccination for Smallpox.” MyHealth.Alberta.ca Government of Alberta Personal Health
Portal, myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/Pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=tn8330&.
Waheed, Mohammad Tahir, et al. “Need of Cost-Effective Vaccines in Developing Countries:
What Plant Biotechnology Can Offer?” SpringerPlus, vol. 5, no. 1, 2016,
doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1713-8.
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Wiysonge, Charles Shey, and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. “Why Africa Is Lagging
behind in Child Vaccination.” Theconversation.com, The Conversation, 12 Sept. 2018,
theconversation.com/why-africa-is-lagging-behind-in-child-vaccination-48699.