Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper

Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper

Maternal Vaccination Act

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the world’s health. Millions have died while the world continues to have risen in COVID-19 infection cases. However, the most significant step in overcoming this problem is vaccination. Mandatory vaccination within the country focuses on employees, including health workers, civil servants, and military officials (Black et al., 2018). The other group with relevant needs includes women with newborns, pregnant women, and those planning pregnancy. Maternal patients also need the vaccination, although the health system experiences disparities and rejection among the public. Due to health disparities among the target group, Rep. Terri Sewell created the Maternal Vaccination Act of 2021, which mainly targeted the urgent maternal health problem affecting the country (Sewell, 2021)Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper. The Act aimed at offering funding to different programs to increase the rates of maternal vaccination. The other objective was to reduce the vaccination disparities among women. The disparities were associated with concerns that mothers refused to take vaccination due to their health concerns.

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The policy effectively improves maternal health during this COVID-19 era since pregnant women, lactating mothers, and other women need improved immunity against the coronavirus. According to Ortiz, Castañeda, and De La Torre (2020), pregnancy causes various immunity changes and responds differently to viral infections. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 infection can result in more severe symptoms (Ortiz, Castañeda, and De La Torre, 2020). The severity of the COVID-19 symptoms confirms the reason for passing the Maternal Vaccination Act. Women need guidance to help them make important decisions concerning their pregnancy. For instance, part of the funding would help raise awareness about healthy eating during pregnancy. These guidelines would improve women’s immunity while also checking on the health of newborns and fetuses. Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper

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Thank you, Shelia, for your post.

I agree that pregnant women and lactating mothers are vulnerable to infections as they have a reduced immunity system at the time. Providing adequate protection against infections may require vaccinations during the gestational period. This ensures that the mother is protected from diseases she might be vulnerable to during pregnancy. In addition, it protects the unborn child from conditions during the first months of the gestational period (Cinicola et al., 2021). This is achieved through the process of the transfer of antibodies during breastfeeding. However, as mentioned in your post, for some reason, some women population have low confidence in vaccines and are skeptical about vaccination. This issue has been more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, where a large cohort is against the immunization of the virus. Pregnant women risk their lives and their unborn children if they fail to get vaccinated.

The introduced maternal vaccination act will be used effectively in deploying maternal vaccination. Most women fail to get vaccinated as they know little about immunization and its significance. The policy aims to create awareness through programs and campaigns, which I believe is a viable platform for education (Congress.gov, 2022). Research showed that infants born from immunized mothers against the vaccinia virus were more immune to smallpox than mothers who were not vaccinated (Etti et al., 2022)Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper. This type of evidence should be made available to mothers through social media platforms where they can get more insights into the impacts of vaccination on both mother and child. Thus during the pandemic, mothers should be educated on the effects of COVID-19  to mother and child. And why it’s essential to get a vaccination.

References

Cinicola, B., Conti, M., Terrin, G., Sgrulletti, M., Elfeky, R., & Carsetti, R. et al. (2021). The Protective Role of Maternal Immunization in Early Life. Frontiers In Pediatrics, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.638871

Congress.gov. (2022). H.R.951 – Maternal Vaccination Act. Retrieved 13 July 2022, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/951/text.

Etti, M., Calvert, A., Galiza, E., Lim, S., Khalil, A., Le Doare, K., & Heath, P. (2022). Maternal vaccination: a review of current evidence and recommendations. American Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynecology, 226(4), 459-474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.10.041 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health Essay Paper