Adult Immunization

Immunizations are defined as the process that occurs when an individual is exposed to an agent specifically designed to increase the immune system response against that agent. Inoculation and vaccination describe a similar action as immunization in that both use a viable infecting agent to increase the immune system's protective response. Immunization is the general term used to describe vaccination. Immunizations are an important component of public health around the world and have been recognized as one of the most important human achievements in the history of medicine for improving health. In 2002 immunizations are attributed with preventing an estimated 2 million deaths. Providing immunizations for adults has been shown to prevent infection, illness, and death.

Immunizations of adults is a proven tool for managing and eradicating disease. The most successful use of immunizations to prevent illness on a global scale was in the eradication of smallpox. Smallpox threatened more than 60 percent of the world's population, killing 25 percent of those infected. Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths worldwide in the 20th century. A British doctor, Edward Jenner, known as the inventor of the modern immunization process, noticed that the smallpox virus resembled the harmless cowpox virus. He found that by injecting a human with the cowpox virus, the person became immune to smallpox.

Eventually, through a worldwide campaign against smallpox, the disease was declared successfully eradicated in 1979 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Other worldwide campaigns to control and prevent the spread of disease through immunizations include poliomyelitis and tetanus.

While childhood vaccinations are often placed at the forefront of immunization efforts, the role of adult immunizations should not be underestimated. In some cases, vaccine-preventable diseases that present as mild in children can be severe diseases in adults. This is especially true for mumps, chickenpox, and rubella. In addition to adults who are not immunized against preventable diseases, it is also important to remember that there are several other reasons why immunization initiatives should focus on all adults and not just nonimmunized ones. In particular, it should not be assumed that all adults were immunized as children. Furthermore, adults who were immunized as children may not have benefited from newer vaccines that may have recently been developed with higher levels of protection.

Adult immunizations are particularly important for preventing morbidity and mortality. Adults often have unique risk factors, and the elderly are also [Page 27]more likely to be immune compromised. Vaccines needed by adults include the hepatitis A and B vaccine, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, meningococcal vaccine, tetanus-diphtheria vaccine, chickenpox vaccine, and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. For those over the age of 50, it is recommended that the flu vaccine be used each year. For individuals above 65 years of age, the pneumococcal vaccine is recommended.

Immunizations are believed to have prevented an estimated 2 million deaths worldwide in 2002 alone.

A current debate on the international level challenges the commitment of the world to eradicating diseases that are known to be preventable through the use of immunizations. Immunizations have been proven to offer a cost-effective intervention to prevent diseases because they usually only require a one-time visit with almost none of the difficult behavioral changes required for other interventions to be successful. Still, an estimated 2.1 million people around the world have died recently from diseases preventable by the use of vaccines.

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