In Part One of this two-part series, Dr. Bruce Gellin, President of Global Vaccines at the Sabin Vaccine Institute informs us about infectious disease outbreaks, how to mitigate them in schools, and the importance of vaccinating children. He addresses the serious concerns around Bioterrorism and progress being made to combat and anticipate such attacks by our enemies. Changing culturally significant burial practices in other countries has proven to be helpful in stopping the spread of diseases like Ebola. We need to understand how people culturally perceive changes in medicine and work with them to bring acceptance of new cures and preventative measures. Some vaccines are unstable and don’t have an infinite shelf life (they expire after a time.) This creates issues in the development and timely distribution in the case of a disease outbreak in certain parts of the world. Better distribution plans still need to be made for some diseases and locations.
In Part Two of this two-part series, Dr. Bruce Gellin, President of Global Vaccines at the Sabin Vaccine Institute warns against using antibiotics without enough care. The more people use and are exposed to antibiotics, the more resistant the bacteria will become. As well known as this may be, American doctors still need to be more careful handing out antibiotics and consumers need to be aware of the dangers when taking them.
Many drug companies are not making investments in antibiotics. The reasons for this are varied but include the lack of financial incentive for drug companies to make the investment. This is a critical problem because, if antibiotics lose their effect, hospitals could become very dangerous places, as they used to be.
The greatest positive impact is the ability to prevent diseases and their preventable consequences. There are many things we can do. Prevention is key.