Vaccination programs are very important and they have a dramatic impact on mortality and morbidity both of adults and children. The effort to extend vaccination was started in 1974 all over the world by the expanded program on Immunization which was founded by the World Health organization. Since then the practice of immunization allowed eradicate many dangerous diseases all over the world, and also eliminate them in some separate regions of a range of countries.
The program helped many counties develop and maintain the infrastructure which was appropriate for delivery of a standard package of vaccination, which included the following vaccinations:
Measles-contain vaccine;
Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine;
Polio vaccine;
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine.
Despite the fact that many governments intend to extend the program and provide each child and adult with the necessary vaccination, practice demonstrates that actual number of people who become vaccinated goes down every year.
For example, in 2006 more than one quarter of all children below one year old did not receive the necessary vaccination. However, this information is concluded from the reports which are provided by the developed countries, while the data from the third world countries remains vague.
It is natural that such incompetence in health care provision leads to increase of deaths both among children and among adults. What is worse, those children who overcome diseases which could be prevented by vaccination later experience significant problems with health, suffering debilitating sequaelae.
Looking at the root of the problem, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that, similarity to a wide range of other medical problems, economic considerations play an outstanding role in the process of determination of parents whether to vaccinate themselves and their children or not.
Effects of vaccinations and its costs are compared all the time and even despite the fact that vaccination really brings results, many families cannot afford them. Moreover, their governments, especially those of the developing countries are not able to provide them with free vaccinations.
The situation becomes even more complex after it is revealed that in the cases when some developing countries provide free or low-cost vaccinations, these turn out to be of low quality.
Nevertheless, refusing vaccination because of economic difficulties means viewing the situation from a narrow perspective, which causes underestimation of the benefits which are brought by this particular service of health care delivery (2011).
Economic epidemiology is the area of research which deals with the choices of people, including those on vaccination, by modeling behavior on the basis of rational decision of individuals with respect to the factors which influence incentives of economy and epidemiology.
According to the research, many citizens of the developed countries understand the necessity of being vaccinated and of providing vaccination to their children; they can afford it or the government provides funds to cover the expenses. However, such policies do not always result into raise of rates of vaccination.
The reason is that people become concerned about the side effects of vaccination, which sometimes turn out to be severe and permanent. Such cases are especially frequent in the countries of the …