A Book Of Hope On Immunization

Zheng Lei / Wen

The new epidemic situation has once again attracted the public's attention to the knowledge related to immunization and anti epidemic. During this period, a variety of popular science books were introduced in China, "between hope and fear", which is a book about the history of vaccines and human immunity. This book begins with smallpox vaccination, introduces the secrets of human immune function, and also describes the anthrax vaccine discovered by Pasteur laboratory, and the challenges faced by modern vaccines. From the perspective of public health, the author proposes that "Hope" should and will eventually prevail over negative "fear".

The history of human natural evolution endows us with a basic and powerful self-immune system, which is the first line of defense against viruses; the progress of vaccines enables human beings to control a variety of serious infectious diseases. However, human beings can never completely avoid infection with new viruses, which is an eternal game with nature. As the living environment of human beings is affected by multiple factors of modern social life, and some environmental factors, such as climate, are beyond human control, we need to more clearly understand and play an important role in self resistance and vaccine immunity.

First of all, vaccines are a public health product. This point has been discussed by Karl Polanyi in his masterpiece the great transformation: the political and economic origins of our time. In his opinion, the market economy completely relying on spontaneous adjustment is a utopian construction. In fact, the market economy completely dependent on spontaneous adjustment is indeed causing the destruction of social environment and natural environment, which is an urgent problem facing mankind. Polanyi pointed out that the society needs the government to play a proper role in the management of the market, so as to avoid ordinary people being forced to bear the high cost of spontaneous market regulation. In the context of western classic economics, few scholars seriously consider the social cost of economic behavior and policy adjustment. Under the assumption that the system cost is zero or the cost of social adjustment remains unchanged, the market seems to be a universal Monster without friction. It can make adjustments immediately and effortlessly to reach a new equilibrium state, which is an idealized assumption of mainstream economics and divorced from reality.

Public health facilities and services are special commodities with obvious social attributes. The reason why we can't completely rely on the market's spontaneous regulation lies in the public obligation of helping the poor and rescuing the sick in human ethics. This is just like the mission of the angel in white to "save the dying and heal the wounded". This is the help that a normal person and a normal society should provide unconditionally for its own citizens, which cannot and cannot be measured by money. This part of the service can only be provided by the government entrusted by the society, so that the government can undertake the work with social effect far exceeding economic benefit, solve the shortage of public health investment, and give full play to the basic security and service function of public medical service for the wider masses of people.

When the infectious virus is likely to enter a new active period, it is equally important to develop good health habits and improve the response capacity of public health system. Use public chopsticks, don't spit, sneeze, cover your mouth and nose, use masks for personal protection, exercise your body and improve your immunity Will become an essential part of our lives. Food hygiene and safety is another area of concern. For example, there are many areas in China that have the custom of making and eating sausages in winter. This kind of food mixed with animal blood, fat and minced meat and poured into the large intestine will breed a large number of microorganisms in the process of preparation and preservation, one of which is called botulinum toxin. If not thoroughly heated before consumption, the toxin will be poisoned. In order to prevent the casing from cracking during heating, some people are not used to cooking thoroughly. The cases of botulinum poisoning have also appeared in many foreign countries which are used to eating sausage in the past. With the popularization of science, we should gradually correct it and reduce the chance of disease from mouth to mouth.