Policy Issue : should the US government overturn the exemption to mandatory vaccination of new infections such as zika which is presently offered to the general public under the public health act?
Background
Right from the beginning, vaccinations have been identified as the most efficient and economically beneficial public health forces. Quite a number of infection outbreaks have been experienced in the recent years. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in west Africa contributed to deaths of more than 9000 people. On the hand, the high prevalence of measles in the US in 1963 which infected more than 4 million people, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 4000 suffered encephalitis. Currently, the vaccination being administered is 97% effective in preventing the disease. Zika virus graduated to a noticeable condition in 2016. Many cases have been tabled to the Control Disease Centre by local, territorial, and state health departments via star and case definitions concerning the infection. The cases of the virus that were reported totaled to 5,700. Out of all the cases, 5,414 came from people who travelled to infected areas, 231 were acquired via presumed local mosquito borne transmission, 55 were acquired through other means such as sexual transmission. Among all the reported cases Florida was the leading state with a total number of 1115 cases. Additionally, the general public seems not to have awareness of the infection because half of the US adult citizens admitted that they knew nothing or little about Zika virus (Gostin & Hodge, 2016).
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Solutions
the continuing issues linked to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the Zika virus are still evolving; nonetheless, policy inferences have undoubtedly taken shape. With regard to policy viewpoints, many unknowns still remain into existence; however, it is better to pay attention to three key areas and comprehend on the past experiences so as to curb the phenomenon in the imminent future.
Vaccine development ; presently, there is no advanced vaccine for Zika that is in progress or is being developed. This institutes a disparity to the Ebola virus which had various vaccines in the pipeline when it hit pandemic status and a funding mechanism on point via the National Institutes of Health as well as other international bodies, in consort with privately operated life sciences organizations. The populace that has beaded interest constitutes that of pregnant women which even models a lot of hardship in the development of the vaccine (a live vaccine normally does not favor pregnant women). Coming up with an inactive vaccine might take one more decade; however, the statement of the pandemic as well as the White House appeal for subsidy will be steered towards hastening the present time frame; possibly, the policy that is of ultimate significance as at now is to resign on policy lessons and think of the best way to institute capitalizations with other countries. Furthermore, given the parameters of vaccines, any given vaccine advancement comes with a response to the public health measures to increase public mindfulness ("Vital Signs: Preparing for Local Mosquito-Borne Transmission of Zika Virus — United States, 2016", 2016).
provider preparedness ; increase of infection rates over the year is a clear indication that a successful vaccine solely is not adequate to counter the phenomenon. Healthcare providers, local health officials and society founded agencies ought to also take part in the entire strategy – this is a lesson that can be learnt from the prevalence of Ebola, the concerned parties were not ready and therefore they were caught off-guard. This delayed the provision of healthcare services and quite a considerable number of people had to die; therefore, mock scenarios as well as spot testing of preparedness ought to be embraced and made a culture by legislators and provider agencies.
collaboration across government agencies Synergy ought to be endorsed, this can be emulated from the past experiences on Ebola and H1N1 where there was a lot of synergy among the concerned bodies i.e. Defense department and the research arm. The present Zika fight has not such request which is likely propelled by the fact that, there is no zika vaccine that is on development. Nonetheless, the struggle exhibited by DARPA in its fight to establish and comprehend multifaceted biological experiences ought not to be dismissed in consort with corresponding organizations of the associates of the American republic. Establishing the advanced Vaccine of zika will need diplomacy given global insinuations (Gowder, 2016).
The prevalence of the Virus and lack of an advanced vaccine has instigated delays where healthcare delivery is concerned, it has been an unpredictable and impractical phenomenon that has been fought over the years. It has instituted misunderstanding and confusing misconceptions among the health care providers. This fight will be combated for generations; doing so in a financially answerable approach will call for distinct commercial designs, supervisory flexibility, but conceivably of great importance Is the idea of institutional remembrance for past pandemics and the policies that were implemented to provide a healing.
References
Gostin, L., & Hodge, J. (2016). Is the United States Prepared for a Major Zika Virus Outbreak?. JAMA , 315 (22), 2395. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.4919
Gowder, S. (2016). Zika Virus - Vaccines and Management. International Journal Of Vaccines & Vaccination , 2 (1). doi: 10.15406/ijvv.2016.02.00019
Vital Signs: Preparing for Local Mosquito-Borne Transmission of Zika Virus — United States, 2016. (2016). MMWR. Morbidity And Mortality Weekly Report , 65 (13). doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6513e1er
