Vaccines given to infants and young children over the past two decades will prevent 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths over the course of their lifetimes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccines also will have saved $295 billion in direct costs, such as medical expenses, and a total of more than $1.3 trillion in societal costs over that time, because children who were spared from sometimes-devastating illnesses will be able to contribute to society, the report shows. These calculations may underestimate the full impact of vaccines, the study notes, because authors considered only the early 14 routine childhood immunizations typically required for school entry. Authors didn't include flu shots or adolescent vaccines given at ages 11 or 12.
The CDC released the report at a time when many parents are uncertain about the benefits of vaccines, leading some to skip or delay routine childhood shots. Authors of the new report based their estimates on CDC annual immunization surveys and published reports showing the known efficacy of vaccines, as well as complication rates from infectious diseases.
Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, the virus infected about 500,000 Americans a year, causing 500 deaths and 48,000 hospitalizations. In recent years, the number of diagnoses fell to around 60 to 65, mostly in isolated travelers arriving in the USA.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/cdc-vaccine-benefits/8094789/
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