Vaccines save lives

This season's flu and Covid immunisation campaign has just got under way in Malaga and across the rest of Andalucía.

That fact serves as a reminder that vaccination against various diseases has saved at least 154 million lives over the last 50 years.

Put another way, six lives are saved every single minute thanks to vaccines, according to data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mass inoculation has proved a major brake on infant mortality, saving more than 100 million infants under one year old in the past half-century.

Over that same period, the measles vaccine alone has prevented 94 million deaths worldwide.

Despite the overwhelming weight of the data and the scientific evidence highlighting the health benefits of vaccination campaigns, certain groups still abhor these biological preparations, choosing neither to get vaccinated themselves nor to immunise their children.

Conspiracy theories, which do the public a grave disservice, find fertile ground on social media, where false and dangerous messages are spread.

These hoaxes generate unjustified social panic and resistance to a safe system that effectively combats viruses and bacteria.

One consequence of anti-vaccination sentiment is that Spain, for example, has lost its status as a measles-free country.

This was caused by the circulation of the virus over twelve consecutive months and a resurgence in infections due to individuals remaining unimmunised against the infectious disease.

What has happened in Spain is not an isolated incident; similar outbreaks have recently occurred in nations such as the UK, Austria, Armenia and Canada.

It is a widespread trend. Because people rarely learn from the mistakes of others, some continue to refuse vaccination.

That choice falls under individual freedom and must be respected, even though it puts so-called herd immunity - which becomes more effective the higher the number of vaccinated individuals - at risk.