Question 15. Discuss the following (fictional) press release... "The world is a safer place with the advent of a new vaccine against tuberculosis...

COMMENTARY+ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION

Full Question: Discuss the following (fictional) press release... "The world is a safer place with the advent of a new vaccine against tuberculosis announced the Health Minister during a visit to Gambia. The vaccine should be available to treat disease caused by the tubercle virus within two years, but travelers are warned to continue boiling water and avoiding contact with mosquito-infested water".

The announcement of the Health Minister heralds something that is very significant, a supposed vaccine (finally a new one to replace the 100 y.o. BCG vaccine) to fight the tubercle virus to be released within two years. You may be asking yourself, why has the question got stuff about boiling water and avoiding mosquito-infested waters?

Well, it’s probably got to do with the fact that TB and mosquito-borne diseases are largely prevalent in poor developing (third-world) countries (such as Gambia). You have to understand, that even if the TB vaccine is SO EFFECTIVE, and it rids the world of TB (which I’m highly skeptical, as they haven’t even released this vaccine in the real-world yet).. the third world will still face the public health problems like malaria, dengue, etc (mosquito-borne diseases). Fixing ONE problem is great, but in the overall scheme of things: socio-economic disparity will always be the main barrier to public health (along with political stability).

As touched on before, you can express your optimism/concern in regards to the vaccine announcement itself… Is it too good to be true? (my opinion: Yes). How do we know it’s going to work in two years time when it’s released? Even if it does, can poor countries afford to vaccinate everyone? The problems of vaccine availability become apparent. How about it’s efficacy in all populations? (BCG had crazy efficacy rates ranging from 0% to 80%) How about TB’s likelihood of vaccine resistance?

You boil water in third-world countries to minimize chance of drinking contaminated water with microbials (such as cryptosporidium or more closely related to the question: mosquito larvae). Avoiding the waters means less chance of getting bitten. People are being advised to take heed, to exemplify that even if TB is gone, many other diseases will remain.

In a way, this very strange question asks you to think about optimistic press releases and how true they can be? We should have doubts on the actual TB vaccine announcement, but also, we are shown that curing one disease, is still something small in the bigger picture. It should stir up opinions in regards to the differences between first-world and third-world. Why are diseases highly prevalent in poorer countries, and not in rich ones?