According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood vaccinations in the United States have prevented hundreds of millions of illnesses, tens of millions of hospitalizations, and over a million deaths among those born between 1994 and 2023. This is according to the CDC’s childhood immunization program, launched in 1994.
The study also found that the vaccines have saved the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars.
The study “demonstrates the significant impact of vaccines on people’s lives and the impressive return on investment in vaccines and immunization services,” said Fangjun Zhou, the study’s lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Ensuring that children are vaccinated in a timely manner is one of the best ways to prevent disease, reduce the burden on the health care system and also reduce costs.”
Researchers from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases examined and quantified the health benefits and economic impact of routine vaccinations among children in the United States born between 1994 and last year.
Nine vaccines were included in the analysis: diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, Haemophilus influenza, poliovirus, measles, rubella, hepatitis B, varicella, hepatitis A, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines.
The researchers found that for about 117 million children born between 1994 and 2023, routine childhood vaccinations could prevent about 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations and about 1.13 million deaths over their lifetime.
The largest number of hospitalizations and deaths prevented were about 13.2 million hospitalizations due to measles and about 752,800 deaths due to diphtheria, the researchers wrote.
Routine vaccination leads to net savings
Their analysis also found that routine vaccinations of children born between 1994 and 2023 saved $540 billion in direct costs – such as the medical costs of treating the infection. It also saved $2.7 trillion in social costs – such as parental unemployment.
The Childhood Immunization Program was launched in the United States in 1994 to provide free vaccinations to eligible individuals aged 18 and under. Israel is a world leader in immunization programs: a drop of milk was an “Israeli invention” that has been available in family health centers since 1921, and since then, vaccination rates in Israel have reached over 92%.
Previous studies have already shown the effectiveness of vaccines: in 1980, the World Health Organization declared the deadly smallpox epidemic eradicated. It is estimated that at least 300 million people died from it in the 20th century before vaccinations began.
Other diseases that have increased significantly include hepatitis A, rubella, polio and diphtheria. Polio, which causes paralysis in children, and measles were also almost eradicated until about three years ago, but then these diseases reappeared due to a significant decline in vaccinations and are spreading mainly in the USA, Europe and Israel.
