Exploring the Causes and Effects of Measles Vaccination Programs

This essay discusses the causes and effects of measles vaccination, beginning with the measles outbreak in 1954 that led to the isolation of the measles virus and subsequent vaccine development in the 1960s. It highlights the impact of vaccination on reducing measles cases, including a significant decline in the 1980s following vaccination uptake. The essay also addresses the resurgence of measles between 1989 and 1991, particularly among children under five and disadvantaged populations, attributing this to lack of vaccination and socioeconomic factors. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role of vaccination in counteracting measles, making it affordable, and integrating it into modern medicine. The conclusion underscores the importance of scheduled doses during early childhood and the role of healthcare systems in reaching targeted populations to curb the disease, leading to a near-complete elimination of measles.

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Vaccination is the mechanism in which there is biological preparation providing active
acquired immunity towards a particular disease. According to Yaqub et al., (2014) vaccination is
the immunization where it is injected into the body that help in expanding the immunity of an
individual against a particular disease. This improves the immunity towards a particular disease
and vaccine containng an agent resembling disease-causing microorganisms and formed from
killed or weakened forms of the microbe, toxins or surface proteins. Measles is a viral infection
of respiratory system being contagious and caused by a virus. Vaccination for measles helps to
prevent measles and in this essay, the cause and effect of measles vaccination will be discussed.
The first cause for measles vaccination was due to the measles outbreak in 1954 where
several patients became ill in Boston, Massachusetts. After that in late 1960’s, the epidemiology
of measles was well understood and in 1963, John F. Enders and Dr. Thomas C. Peebles isolated
the measles in 13-year-old David Edmonston’s blood. After that, they transformed the
Edmonston-B strain of measles virus into vaccine and in 1968, improved form of measles
vaccine was developed by Maurice Hilleman, being licensed gradually. Before the measles
vaccination was developed, this infection was so common that it was considered as an inevitable
cause of death. This widespread measles outbreak led to the introduction of the vaccine in the
year 1963 being the major cause for its development.
The effect of vaccination uptake during the measles outbreak in 1971 and 1977 helped
to break down the thousands of measles cases per year during the 1980s. An outbreak of
30,000 cases in the year 1990 led to push for new vaccination development and in the year 1997
and 2013, less than 200 cases were reported and in the year 2014, measles cases came down to
610 and roughly around 30 cases in January 2015. The effect was widespread and it is not
considered an epidemic documenting millions of morbidity and mortality (Luyten & Beutel,

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2016). The vaccine has led to a near-complete elimination of the disease from the targeted
countries.
The cause for further measles development was not it soared again in between the
years 1989 and 1991 with 55,622 diagnosed cases in these three years. The cases were
diagnosed among children under the age of five years and disadvantaged populations. During
those years, it was found that 90% of the diagnosed cases were those in which vaccinations were
not given. Marginalized population were socially disadvantaged as they were unable to afford
vaccines and lack of awareness among them regarding measles vaccination due to low socio-
economic status. Moreover, vaccination was given to the children during their early childhood
that led to the increased outbreak among this particular population. Due to poverty and poor
living conditions, there is rapid spread of measles infection that affect marginalized people as
they cannot lack awareness and cannot afford vaccines (Eisenstein, 2016). This shows that
poverty and measles disease spread are strongly related. It can be stated that there is increase in
infectious disease (measles) among the communities where people have poor living conditions.
This evidence strongly suggests that there is strong connection between the poverty and measles
infection without any doubts.
After this second outbreak, the major effect of vaccine development was that it played
an important role in counteracting measles. It is made affordable to the disadvantaged
population and strong integration into the modern medicine that increased immunity to wards
measles. As mentioned above, children below the age of five were not vaccinated and it
suggested that although, measles can be prevented to some extent, proper immunization is
important according to dose and schedule during early childhood (Aaby et al., 2014). In addition,
crowded and unsanitary communities are prone to high infection spread and therefore,

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vaccination reaching to targeted population can help to curb the disease by healthcare systems
(Largeron et al., 2015).
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that vaccination was developed because
of the major outbreak during the year 1954. This adversely affected people and this led to the
invention and development of vaccination during 1960s by Maurice Hilleman and colleagues
that became licensed at that time. The reason for the development of this disease was to reduce
the alarming rates of morbidity, mortality and mostly to reduce the spread of the disease.
Moreover, vaccine was further developed to provide proper immunization at scheduled doses to
the children below the age of 5 years with an aim to reduce the number of child deaths. With
increased vaccination use, this infection spread has been reduced further declaring near-complete
elimination of measles.
References

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Aaby, P., Martins, C. L., Garly, M. L., Andersen, A., Fisker, A. B., Claesson, M. H., ... & Benn,
C. S. (2014). Measles vaccination in the presence or absence of maternal measles
antibody: impact on child survival. Clinical infectious diseases, 59(4), 484-492.
Eisenstein, M. (2016). Disease: poverty and pathogens. Nature, 531(7594), S61-S63.
Largeron, N., Lévy, P., Wasem, J., & Bresse, X. (2015). Role of vaccination in the sustainability
of healthcare systems. Journal of market access & health policy, 3(1), 27043.
Luyten, J., & Beutels, P. (2016). The social value of vaccination programs: beyond cost-
effectiveness. Health Affairs, 35(2), 212-218.
Yaqub, O., Castle-Clarke, S., Sevdalis, N., & Chataway, J. (2014). Attitudes to vaccination: a
critical review. Social Science & Medicine, 112, 1-11.