Beyond the jab: The science and systems behind vaccination
KUALA LUMPUR: FOR many people, a vaccine is simply a jab to prevent a disease.
Vaccination involves a complex system encompassing science, surveillance, regulation, manufacturing, and public confidence. Dr Megat Mohamad Amirul Amzar Megat Hashim from the University Malaya Medical Centre explained that vaccination and natural infection affect the immune system differently. Natural infection exposes the body to the actual pathogen, while vaccination prepares the immune system to recognize specific components of a pathogen without causing the disease.
This distinction is crucial for pneumococcal disease, a bacterial infection that can lead to severe complications like pneumonia, bacteraemia, sepsis, and meningitis. While higher-valency pneumococcal vaccines offer broader coverage, the choice should depend on whether those additional serotypes correspond to the disease burden and epidemiology of the population.
Continuous disease surveillance is essential for determining which pneumococcal serotypes are circulating and linked to invasive disease. This surveillance should involve multiple stakeholders, including healthcare institutions, academia, and industry. The data collected should cover invasive pneumococcal disease, circulating serotypes, vaccination status, breakthrough infections, antimicrobial resistance, and vaccine coverage.
It's not enough to choose a pneumococcal vaccine based solely on the number of serotypes; the focus should be on the disease burden. Vaccine policy must integrate international clinical evidence and safety data with local epidemiology, public health priorities, and regulatory requirements. Vaccine decisions should be tailored to an individual's age, health status, and risk factors, including annual influenza vaccination and pneumococcal vaccination for older adults and those with chronic conditions.
Building public confidence in vaccination programs requires clear, evidence-based communication from healthcare professionals, regulators, government, and industry. Addressing concerns about newer vaccines, misinformation, and safety questions is essential for fostering vaccine acceptance. Ongoing regulation ensures the quality, safety, and efficacy of vaccines, with monitoring continuing after introduction to identify potential safety signals and assess performance in wider populations.
Strong immunisation programmes depend on reliable access to vaccines, requiring domestic research, manufacturing capability, and technology transfer.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
