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接種疫苗挽救生命

世界衛生組織呼籲中國公民繼續使用品質有保證的疫苗以預防疾病。接種疫苗——最近幾周公眾討論的焦點——是世界上預防疾病與死亡最有效和最具成本效益的公共衛生乾預措施之一。

數字就是證據

1964年,僅在新中國成立15年之後,全國有約有4.3萬人因脊髓灰質炎而癱瘓。同年,可造成呼吸困難和死亡的細菌感染——白喉,使得15萬多名中國公民罹患疾病。這些疾病在過去幾十年裡給無數的人帶來痛苦和折磨。相比之下,自1994年和2007年開始,世界上人口最多的國家再也沒有人因本土流行的脊髓灰質炎和白喉死亡。

其他有關接種疫苗所取得成功的故事還有很多。腦膜炎曾經發病率很高,在1967年有300多萬中國人患病,而現在發病率已降低99%。同樣,麻疹在1959年幾乎造成近1000萬人患病,而在現今中國已鮮有發生。百日咳和腮腺炎的發病率同樣大幅下降。

接種疫苗使得中國消除了脊髓灰質炎,並極大地減少了疫苗可預防疾病(比如麻疹、風疹、日本腦炎、腦膜炎和B肝)在兒童中的發病率。1992年至2014年期間,得益於B肝疫苗的使用,約有1.2億人避免了感染B肝和2800萬人避免了慢性B肝。因為接種疫苗,今天的中國兒童幾乎免於B肝困擾,這意味著他們在未來罹患肝硬化和肝癌等重病的風險都大大降低。

總之,在過去四十年間,中國的擴大免疫規劃從根本上改變了中國的公共衛生進程。

在全球,接種疫苗每年避免200-300萬人死亡。如果全球疫苗接種覆蓋率能得到提高,甚至可以額外避免150萬人死亡。

事實很清楚:接種疫苗挽救生命。僅在50多年前,人們深受脊髓灰質炎困擾,該疾病可導致神經損傷、癱瘓和死亡。人們幻想著擁有靈丹妙藥能防禦這一常常致命的疾病,現在這一夢想已在全球範圍內廣泛實現。

世衛組織呼籲

我們理解父母和廣大公眾因為最近中國一家疫苗生產商的不當行為的曝光而感到擔憂,並因此動搖對於疫苗系統的信心。但是,世衛組織鼓勵中國公民在看待這一事件時,認識到接種疫苗作為公共衛生乾預措施的重要性以及中國數十年通過免疫規劃成功挽救生命的成就。如果沒有接種疫苗提供的保護,今天的很多中國人都不能存活下來。雖然長春長生生物科技有限責任公司的事件絕不應發生,但監管機構檢及時查出異常情況以及迅速有力應對的這一事實,體現了監管當局體系監管和現場檢查能有效保護人民健康。

如果沒有廣泛的疫苗接種,曾被消除的疾病就有可能在中國卷土重來,再次威脅公眾健康與安全。世衛組織呼籲父母繼續給孩子接種疫苗。免疫規劃的持續成功以及中國子孫後代的健康與福祉,都由此決定。

Immunizations Save Lives

WHO urges parents to continue to vaccinate their children

The World Health Organization urges Chinese citizens to continue to use quality-assured vaccines to prevent diseases in China. Immunization, while at the center of public debate in recent weeks, is one of the most effective, and cost-effective public health interventions in the world for preventing illness and death.

The proof is in the numbers. In 1964, just 15 years after the founding of modern China, around 43,000 people were paralyzed by polio disease across the nation. The same year, diphtheria--a bacterial infection that can lead to breathing difficulties and death-- made more than 150,000 Chinese citizens very sick. These diseases caused pain and suffering for countless numbers of people, over several decades. Compare that to today, when diseases such as diphtheria and indigenous polio have not claimed a single life in the world’s most populous nation since 2007 and 1994 respectively.

There are many other stunning success stories as a result of China’s immunization program. Serious disease rates tied to meningitis, which affected more than 3 million people in China in 1967, have fallen by 99 per cent since that time. Likewise measles, which infected nearly 10 million people in 1959, is rarely seen in China today. Pertussis (whooping cough) and mumps have similarly fallen dramatically.

Immunization has also dramatically reduced other vaccine-preventable diseases in China, including rubella, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal meningitis and hepatitis B among children. Between 1992 and 2014, an estimated 120 million hepatitis B virus infections and 28 million chronic infections were averted by the use of hepatitis B vaccine. Thanks to immunization, today’s generation of Chinese children are virtually hepatitis B free – meaning their risk of developing nasty diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer in the future are drastically reduced.

In short, over the last four decades, China’s Expanded Program on Immunization has fundamentally altered the course of the nation’s public health.

Globally, immunization currently prevents between 2-3 million deaths every year. Even more deaths, an additional 1.5 million could be avoided, if global immunization coverage is improved.

The facts are clear: immunizations save lives. Just over 50 years ago, populations plagued with polio--a disease that can cause nerve injury, paralysis and death--dreamed of a magic bullet to avoid the often fatal disease. That dream is now a global, widespread, readily available reality.

We understand that parents and the broader community are worried following the recent revelations of improper practices at one vaccine manufacturer in China, and that their faith in the immunization system has been shaken as a result. However, WHO also encourages China’s citizens to consider this event in the context of the importance of immunization as a public health intervention, and the achievements over several decades of China’s successful, life-saving immunization program. There are many Chinese people alive today who would not be, if not for immunization. While the events at Changchun Changsheng Life Sciences Ltd should never have happened, the fact that the anomalies were detected by the regulators – and responded to quickly and robustly once so – shows that the regulatory authority’s system of checks and balances to protect population health is working.

Without widespread immunization, diseases that have largely disappeared in China run the risk of returning, jeopardizing public health and safety once again. WHO urges parents to continue to vaccinate their children. The continued success of the immunization program – and the health and well-being of this, and future generations of Chinese children – depends on it.

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