Rationale Pneumonia is a deadly disease that can kill you if you are not correctly managed or if the treatment is started too late.  The reason it is deadly is due to the accumulation of fluids in your lungs. If so much of the lung space is occupied with fluid you cannot breathe and you will die from lack of oxygen—in effect from suffocation or from drowning. Thus, vaccination for this disease is very important. Generic and brand names The generic name of this vaccine is the Pneumococcal vaccine, polyvalent.  Commercial name is  Pneumovax 23, or Pneumo 23. Composition of the vaccine A typical vaccine for pneumonia consists of a mixture of highly purified capsular polysaccharides from the 23 most prevalent or invasive pneumococcal types. Streptococcus pneumoniae , including the six serotypes that most frequently cause invasive drug-resistant pneumococcal infections. If you have received this vaccine, you are protected from 85 to 90% of all causes of pneumonia. Putting it in another way, the chance and possibility that you will get pneumonia is only 10 to 15%.  That is a significant protection from contracting the disease! Mechanism of action The purified pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide that is incorporated in the vaccine induces the production of antibodies in your body, which are very effective in preventing pneumococcal disease.

Rationale Influenza is a disease caused by a virus. The flu is unlike other illness in that antibiotics will not cure it. The treatment of influenza is mainly symptomatic, meaning that the medications given are only to reduce the symptoms caused by the illness, not to treat the cause of the illness. If you have a fever, then medicine to lower the temperature will be given; if you experience muscular and joint pain, then medicine to relieve the pain will be given. There are antiviral medications that can be given within the first 48 hours of exposure to the flu to reduce flu duration. However, the main treatment will center on bed rest and intake of adequate fluids. If the management of your flu is inadequate or if your bodily resistance is decreased your flu could lead to pneumonia, which is a fatal disease. Thus, it is urgent and essential that you receive the flu vaccination. Generic and brand names The generic name is Quadrivalent influenza vaccine (split virion, inactivated). The brand name is Fluarix Tetra. Composition of the vaccine This vaccine contains the antigens for the following types and subtypes of viruses: A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09 – like strain (A/Singapore/GP1908/2015, IVR-180) A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2) – like strain (A/Hong Kong/4801/2014, NYMC X-2638) B/Brisbane/60/2008 – like strain (B/Brisbane/60/2008, wild-type) B/Phuket/3073/2013 – like strain (B/Phuket/3073/2013, wild-type) Each 0.5 ml vaccine dose contains 15 ug haemagglutinin of each of the recommended strains.

Rationale Hepatitis is an inflammatory liver disease that is spread by blood and body fluids such as sex, needle sharing, blood transfusion, tattoos. Hep B causes clinical manifestations such as yellowish discoloration of your eyes, specifically your sclerae. Other symptoms include fever and bodily complaints, such as weakness and anorexia (no desire to eat). When you experience yellowish discoloration of your sclerae, you need to undergo some laboratory tests to exactly find out your medical problem. Is it hepatitis B, A, or something else? There could be an obstruction in your hepato-biliary tree, which is the tube connecting your liver to your gallbladder and to your intestine. However, if there was a recent history that you had a blood transfusion, intravenous injections, or tattoo construction in any part of your skin, it is possible that you have been afflicted with hepatitis B. The disease itself could be well managed by medical doctors in the hospital or in medical clinics in your locality. However, what is alarming and life-threatening is the fact that hepatitis B could lead to liver cancer. It means that if you have been afflicted with hepatitis B, many years later, you will suffer from liver cancer. The correlation coefficient between hepatitis B and liver cancer is almost 100%.

Rationale The transmission of hepatitis A takes place by faecal-oral route. This means that it is transmitted through foods, saliva, and unclean hands. If the cooking of foods is not hygienic, if an infected person kisses you by the mouth, you could be infected with hepatitis A virus. Based on its mode of transmission, you could be infected easily and without knowing at all. Hence, you need to be vaccinated with this. The incubation period of hepatitis A is between 15 to 45 days, with an average of 4 weeks. This means that from the time the virus has entered your system, it will take on the average 4 weeks or one month before you could feel and experience the manifestations of the disease. By the time you are sick, you could not really trace where you got it, considering that it takes some time before the disease takes its toll on your health. The general manifestations of Hepatitis A are fever, anorexia, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, malaise, arthralgias, myalgias, headache, photophobia, pharyngitis, cough, and coryza. After one to two weeks, you will experience the yellowish discoloration of your sclerae (part of your eyes). When you are afflicted with hepatitis A, you are highly infectious to other people.

Rationale Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease, with an attack rate of at least 90 percent among susceptible individuals and those who were not protected by any form of vaccination. Both sexes are infected equally—that is, there is no predisposition with regards to sex. Children between the ages of 5 and 9 are most commonly affected and account for 50 percent of all cases. The incubation period of chickenpox ranges between 10 and 21 days, but more often than not it ranges between 14 and 17 days. Clinically, chickenpox presents as rash, low-grade fever, and malaise. The skin lesions, the hallmark of the infection, consist of maculopapules, vesicles, and scabs in varying stages of evolution. If you are infected with chickenpox, you cannot report to work because you are highly contagious. Thus, you will lose a lot in terms of monetary income because of foregone productivity. The worst sequelae of varicella are the appearance of shingles later in life. It is an established fact that when you recover from varicella, the virus will hibernate in some of your nerves. When your resistance weakens in the future, this virus will wake up and reappear causing shingles which is manifested as severe pain along the course of your nerves in your chest.