The Impact of Vaccines

July 01, 2005

Very interesting table, orginally from CDC and reproduced on the Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases website showing the impact of vaccines on disease in America:Maximum Annual vs. 1995 Cases of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the U.S.

Disease	Maximum Annual Reported Cases in the Pre-Vaccine Era (year)	Reported Cases in 1995**	Percentage Change in Morbidity
Congenital Rubella Syndrome	20,000 * (1964-5)	7	(99.46)
Diphtheria	206,939 (1921)	0	(99.99)
Invasive H.influenzae	20,000 * (1984)	1,164	(94.18)
Measles	894,134 (1941)	309	(99.97)
Mumps	152,209 (1968)	840	(99.45)
Pertussis	265,269 (1934)	4,315	(98.37)
Poliomyelitis (wild)	21,269 (1952)	0	(99.99)
Rubella	57,686 (1969)	146	(98.75)
Tetanus	601 (1948)	34	(94.34)
Total	1.64 million	6,815	(99.58)

*Estimated because nationalreporting did not exist in the prevaccine era. **Provisional total.
Source: Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, CDCAs the website says, the table:

outlines nine diseases and the effect vaccines have had on their incidence in the U.S.. It's easy to see the result: in 1995 there were only 6,815 reported cases of all 9 of these diseases put together, compared to 1.6 million reported cases when these disorders ran unchecked through the population. The pre-vaccine figure, 1.6 million, represents an enormous degree of human suffering and loss.

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