Vaccination 18+: what to vaccinate adults from, except covid

Alice Smahina

The vaccination marathon begins at birth and lasts almost until adulthood. According to the Ukrainian vaccination calendar, children aged 1 to 16 should be protected from 10 diseases: hepatitis B virus, tuberculosis, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, and hemophilia. By 2022 vaccination against pneumococcal infection should become mandatory. All these measures help to keep dangerous diseases under control, maintain health and live and work peacefully, both the individual and society.

Refusing vaccinations leads to the spread of diseases to which people remain vulnerable. For example, measles is one of the most contagious diseases. The viruses of this disease are very resistant; you can get infected just by riding in the elevator, where the patient used to go. Even if the measles goes away without complications, a person can experience the effects for several more years: it takes the immune system three years to recover. Most recently, in 2018-2019, in Europe and the United States, there was the most massive outbreak of measles in the last thirty years; more than 300 thousand people fell ill. A quarter of the world's population and 64% of those infected with measles in Europe are residents of Ukraine.

Vaccinations not only save vaccinated people from infection but also prevent the spread of disease. To make the country's population resistant to disease, most of it needs to be vaccinated. This is called "herd immunity."

In addition, vaccinations don't end in childhood. Together with Natalia Shpilka, a general practitioner of family medicine, Rubryka learned what adults should be vaccinated against, when to do it, how to act if you're not sure whether you were vaccinated as a child, what reactions to prepare for and what contraindications may exist.