ExpoMom 2020, Mommy Mundo’s annual conference was held on August 29-30, 2020 as an online event on Facebook Live.  The international audience, composed of parents and speakers from Manila, the United States, France, and Canada, just to name a few, tuned in for expert talks, great shopping deals, and the fun games and surprises that Mommy Mundo events have always had. 

Among the expert talks was a special presentation on adult vaccination, given by renowned doctor, Dr. Ricardo Manalastas Jr. and hosted by Delamar Arias, of radio fame.  Co-presented by Sanofi-Pasteur, the presentation was both extremely informative and relevant given the current global health crisis and the ongoing hunt for a vaccine for COVID-19.

To begin, Dr. Manalastas discussed various concepts in vaccination, such as herd immunity and cocoon strategy.  The former, herd immunity, has been a popular term on the news the past few months. Dr. Manalastas explained it as when enough members of a herd are vaccinated and so prevent themselves from being carriers of an infection. By doing so, they cannot infect others, and that indirectly protects the rest of the herd–those who cannot be vaccinated or those who cannot afford vaccination. 

Newborn children are members of the herd that need to rely on herd immunity or on adults to be properly vaccinated. Newborns benefit as well from the cocoon strategy, which Dr. Manalastas explained as making sure that everyone surrounding a newborn child is properly immunised. This creates a cocoon of safety around the baby, which may still be waiting to be strong enough to receive vaccinations.

The doctor then proceeded to discuss the different vaccinations ought to be given to pregnant women, such as the flu vaccine and the Tdap vaccine. He went into a discussion about how mothers can already provide protection to their children by vaccinating themselves. This is because when a mother takes a vaccine, those antibodies can be passed through the placenta and/or through breastmilk. The benefits of protecting unborn and newly born children or unborn and newly born members of the herd is an excellent reason why pregnant or new mothers should take vaccines as a way to make sure they have enough antibodies to protect themselves and their babies.

As the talk progressed, it was clear that there is a gap between the time children are routinely receiving vaccines and booster shots and adults who almost never get vaccinated for anything. Dr. Manalastas recommends check ins with the doctor to ask about vaccinations (for women, the HPV vaccine is needed), and not just leave vaccinations up to something that only happens when it is needed (such as the tetanus vaccine, which is often thought of as a situational vaccine).

As the doctor said: “Vaccination and immunization has saved more lives and prevented more diseases than any other measure known to man, second only to safe drinking water,” making everyone who attended ExpoMom 2020 realise that vaccines are more or a must than a maybe.