World Immunization Week | Pay attention to vaccines for the elderly and establish scientific vaccination concepts

The last week of April this year is World Immunization Week, which aims to call on the public to improve their own and their families' immunity, pay attention to disease prevention, and establish vaccination awareness. Population aging is an important trend in social development and is also the basic national condition of my country for a long period of time in the future. Health is the basis for ensuring the independence and participation of the elderly in society. Promoting healthy aging is a long-term strategy to actively respond to population aging.

How to better protect the health of the elderly and ensure a quality life in their later years? How to enhance the immunity of the elderly? This is the focus of everyone's attention. To this end, Liu Yi, chief physician of the Immunization Program of Shaanxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, shared vaccine science knowledge at a media salon initiated by Science Popularization China & Science and Business Lecture Hall in order to improve the disease prevention awareness of the elderly.

How to choose vaccines for the elderly? Fully understanding the technical route and related contraindications is the key

"Vaccines can identify invading bacteria or viruses and produce specific immune responses. The immune system has a memory function, and this memory function is lifelong after vaccination. No matter how old you are, once pathogens invade, we can mobilize our immune function and mobilize immune cells through immune memory, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing diseases," said Liu Yi. Vaccination is a more economical and simple method to prevent the occurrence of corresponding diseases.

At present, there are live attenuated vaccines, inactivated vaccines, recombinant vaccines, etc. on the market. What is the difference between these vaccines? How should patients choose? In this regard, Liu Yi explained that the technical routes of vaccines have their own characteristics. For example, live attenuated vaccines weaken the virulence of pathogens, retain antigenicity, and can stimulate the body to produce immune responses. However, because live attenuated vaccines still have certain virulence, people with low immune function such as tumors, HIV-infected people, systemic lupus erythematosus, and type 1 diabetes are generally not recommended for vaccination with live attenuated vaccines; inactivated vaccines refer to the inactivation of pathogens so that their virulence and pathogenicity no longer exist, but more injections are used. For another example, recombinant subunit protein vaccines, such as hepatitis B vaccines and herpes zoster vaccines, are relatively advanced in terms of vaccine technology and have better protection effects.

At present, there are more and more types of vaccines that can be given to the elderly. Among them, live attenuated vaccines are not suitable for patients with immune deficiency or immunosuppressive diseases. Therefore, the elderly need to consider their own physical conditions, the applicable age of the vaccine, the vaccination procedure, contraindications, etc., and choose the vaccine that suits them. For more relevant information, such as the protective efficacy and durability of the vaccine, please consult a professional medical professional.

Safety ≠ adverse reactions, only by completing the full course of vaccination can you get effective protection

As they age, the immune function of the elderly shows a downward trend, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, and herpes zoster. In addition, the elderly often suffer from underlying diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so they are often threatened by both chronic diseases and infectious diseases. Vaccination is an economical, effective, and simple means of preventing diseases, which can help the elderly reduce the threat of diseases and effectively reduce the risk of severe illness and death.

Liu Yi said: "At present, the most commonly used vaccines for the elderly in my country include influenza vaccine, pneumonia vaccine and shingles vaccine. However, many elderly people now do not know enough about where to get vaccinated and what kind of vaccine to get. Therefore, we should also increase the scientific popularization and guidance of the elderly's prevention awareness, so that more elderly people, more families, and more children can realize the importance of vaccination for the elderly."

One of the most important issues that citizens are concerned about when getting vaccinated is whether the vaccine is safe. Liu Yi said that our country is very strict in reviewing the listing of vaccines, and data on the safety of vaccines will also be observed and collected. The public can rest assured to get the vaccines introduced by the country. After vaccination, some adverse reactions may occur, such as fever, fatigue, redness and swelling at the injection site, etc. These symptoms are usually mild and short-lived, and will disappear within a few days. Most of them do not require treatment.

The vaccine recipient needs to complete the full course of vaccination to obtain full immunity, and the number of doses required for a full course of vaccination varies for different vaccines. For example, for a full course of two doses of vaccine, only partial protection can be provided after the first dose, and the second dose will increase the degree of protection.