- Ignoring scientific knowledge and questioning vaccination increases the risk of deadly epidemics.
- An unvaccinated minor boy from the Czech Republic died after contracting diphtheria.
- After the introduction of compulsory vaccination against diphtheria, deaths dropped from thousands to zero.
The Council of the Learned Society of Slovakia warns against ignoring scientific knowledge and questioning vaccination as a long-proven and effective protection against potentially fatal infectious diseases. She stated this in response to the case of an unvaccinated minor boy from the Czech Republic who died after contracting diphtheria.
“By refusing vaccination, we endanger not only our own children, but also those who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons and for whom collective immunity is the only protection.” added work.
She noted that this is the first death from diphtheria in the Czech Republic since 2000.During this period, we had a single death in Slovakia in 2022. Compulsory vaccination against diphtheria was introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1946. Until then, more than 1,000 people died from it annually out of tens of thousands infected. During the 1950s, the number of cases and deaths decreased, until in the mid-1960s it dropped to practically zero.” Rada added.
Diphtheria (diphtheria) is a severe infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The transmission takes place through air contaminated with secretions from the respiratory tract of a sick person or a carrier of toxic corynobacteria. The disease is characterized by the formation of “bumps” in the throat, which can lead to suffocation.
It often has a complicated course, mainly due to inflammation of the heart muscle, paralysis of the soft palate, other muscles and damage to the kidneys. Before the era of vaccination and antibiotic treatment, the disease was accompanied by a high mortality rate, the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic announced.
