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The tendency of the influenza virus to rapidly change, and the call for revaccination against it, is a prime example of the necessity for preventative measures to be updated with some frequency in order to effectively decrease the incidence of pathogenic afflictions.
The tendency of the influenza virus to rapidly change, and the call for revaccination against it, is a prime example of the necessity for preventative measures to be updated with some frequency in order to effectively decrease the incidence of pathogenic afflictions.
==Herd immunity and mandatory vaccination==
In important concept in vaccine planning is [[herd immunity]]. This is the idea that when a certain percentage of your population is vaccinated those with in the population that are not vaccinated are protected from the disease. This is a fairly straight forward concept, if 90 percent of your population is immune then the chances that a carrier of the disease will come into contact with a non-immune member of the herd is low. <ref>http://www.mathepi.com/maindir/herd.html The mathematics of herd immunity</ref>. Herd immunity is the goal of most vaccination programs as it is the point where a disease can start to be eliminated all together from a population.
For example, in 1962 Japan instituted mandatory vaccination against influenza in school children. This continued until 1987 when the program was changed to optional and abandoned in 1994. Approximately 85 percent of children were estimated to have been vaccinated. <ref>http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=387431 Control of Influenza </ref> Several studies examined the mortality rates due to influenza during this period of time and revealed that the death rates due to influenza in all population groups was drastically decreased including older adult populations. Since there was no increased rate of vaccination in these populations the decreased mortality was caused by herd immunity effects of vaccinating so many children. <ref>http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Vaccine-Weekly/2001-04-11/200104113335VW.html Mandatory Vaccination of Japanese Schoolchildren Demonstrates "Herd Immunity" </ref> Some researchers argue that this and other evidence argues strongly for mandatory vaccination programs world wide as a means of controlling many diseases and preventing a [[pandemic]].<ref> http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1360502 Herd Immunity</ref>
==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Biology]]