Why Vaccinate?
The Impact
Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements in history. The impacts are too numerous to count, but here are a few highlights:
Vaccines eliminate diseases.
The ultimate goal of immunization is to prevent illness and eliminate disease. Worldwide immunization efforts led to the successful elimination of smallpox, a deadly disease that killed 3 of every 10 people who caught it. In the 1950s, there were about 50 million cases of smallpox. Those who survived infection were left with scars and major health problems. Through aggressive vaccination efforts, smallpox was eradicated in 1980. This success is a big reason why we continue immunization efforts for other vaccine-preventable diseases.
In addition to smallpox, we have been close to eliminating polio worldwide for many years. Before the polio vaccine was introduced in 1955, polio was a dreaded infectious disease. It often infected young children and left them paralyzed. Leading up to the vaccine’s release, polio cases peaked at 58,000 in just one year in the U.S. Parents did not let their children go to movie theaters, swimming pools, or friends' houses out of fear of their child contracting polio. Following a robust vaccination effort across the country, polio cases dropped drastically.
Today, vaccinated children in the U.S. are no longer at risk for the paralytic and deadly effects of polio. Organizations worldwide have come together to vaccinate children. This resulted in a 99 percent decrease in polio cases. However, there is still work to do. Wild polio still spreads in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Other countries have seen outbreaks of polio variants in recent years. In 2022, there was a polio case in New York in a person who had traveled abroad. Diseases we may consider gone from the U.S. are just a plane ride away.
We must keep vaccinating our children in the U.S. in hopes of one day eliminating diseases like polio.
Immunization saves lives and money.
There’s no question: vaccines save lives. They also save money. The CDC estimates that, for children born between 1994 and 2021, vaccination will prevent 472 million illnesses, 29 million hospitalizations, and over 1 million deaths. A recent study found that vaccination could have prevented 234,000 COVID-19 deaths between June 2021 and March 2022. Vaccination will also save $479 billion in direct costs and over $2.2 trillion in societal costs. That equals $5,000 in savings for each American. And for every $1 spent on childhood immunization, the U.S. saves $10.90.
In short, the financial and human costs of not vaccinating are incredibly high. So are the costs of treating vaccine-preventable diseases. In 2022, the cost to treat children who developed vaccine-preventable diseases in Colorado was over $440 million.
Immunization is a global effort.
Across the world, millions of children do not have access to life-saving vaccines. Often, parents cannot afford vaccines or do not have access to healthcare. Organizations like GAVI and PATH are making progress to provide better access to vaccines. However, it takes funding, time, and support to give all children the vaccines they need. Meanwhile, we’re all in this together.