Fans of the obscure medical-thriller genre may fondly recall the film Contagion, an expose of a pandemic that grips the world, creates division between medicine and homeopathy and results in many deaths.
Fortunately however it doesn’t disturb Matt Damon’s luscious locks one little bit. After many Jude Law monologues and slightly too close-up close up’s of Kate Winslet, the film concludes with the creation of a vaccine to save the world and finally allow Matt Damon to remove his handfuls of hair gel.
Thankfully in the real world, outside of a Hollywood studio, vaccines have already long been in play, stopping the spread of infections and completely removing others.
Vaccines are preparations that produce immunity by encouraging our immune systems to build the necessary machinery to protect against the bugs that cause diseases such as Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chickenpox, and the Flu.
Despite the success of vaccinations, public perception of them still fluctuates more rapidly than the opening day of the new Busselton Hospital.
As medical students we are often reminded of the dangers of flawed research, and the notion of such is no more evident than in the 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield that claimed the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism.
Wakefield’s study has since been exposed as fraudulent and the medical board has deregistered him as a result.
Many follow up studies have since proven no link between autism and the MMR vaccine, and the necessity of the vaccine and severity of the disease means we shouldn’t hesitate when it comes to vaccinating our children and ourselves.
It’s important to realise that vaccines are not like your blood pressure medications – they don’t treat disease, they prevent disease!
The Australian government has created an immunisation schedule that makes it easy to follow what vaccines are available for certain ages.
To find out what’s available for you and your family talk to your GP.
Vaccines won’t give you Matt Damon’s wave like hair, but they will give you and your family real protection against diseases that not even Kate Winslet can fight.
