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GENERAL

Every dollar spent on immunization saves $6.30 in direct medical costs in the US, with an aggregate savings of $10.5 billion (direct medical costs) or a total of $42billion (total costs)

Childhood immunizations prevent 33,000 deaths per year in the US.

Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) killed 57 million people in 2002

Every single day a child’s immune system deals with 2,000-6,000 antigens, the unique proteins on germs that the body recognizes as foreign, vastly more than the 150 or so antigens that the child’s system encounters over a year and a half for the whole current vaccine schedule

THE FLU

Getting a single worker vaccinated against the flu in November instead of December can save an employer up to $95. For a firm of 150 employees, the total savings can be more than $14,000

The 1918 Flu Pandemic killed between 20-40 million people; more than World War I, more than the Black Plague during 4 years.

Although pregnant women are about 1% of the U.S. population, they made up 5% of U.S. deaths from 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from April 14 – August 21, 2009

Babies born to mothers who contracted flu during pregnancy had a five-fold increase in the rate of death shortly after birth

Each year the flu infects 90,000,000 children under 5 worldwide, leading to 20,000,000 flu-related pneumonia cases; 1,000,000 hospitalizations and over 111,000 deaths, mostly in developing countries with scarce access to vaccines and modern medicine.

MENINGITIS

More than 1,000,000 cases of meningitis have been reported in Africa since 1988. In 1996-1997, the largest epidemic wave ever recorded swept across Africa, causing more than 250 000 cases and 25 000 deaths.

ROTAVIRUS

Prior to vaccination rotavirus killed about 21 children annually in the United States, and led to 57,000 hospitalizations and 107,000 ER visits

Each year, rotavirus-related diarrheal disease takes the lives of more than 500,000 children younger than age 5 years and is responsible for millions more hospitalizations

POLIO

Approximately one out of every 200-400 children infected with polio will suffer from paralysis and even death

Prior to the start of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, 125 countries reported an estimated 350,000 cases of polio each year. By 2006 global polio cases have been reduced by 99% and are now limited to only four countries

PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH)

Whooping cough once sickened 300,000 people a year and killed 7,000 — mostly young children

The UK pertussis vaccine scare of the 1970 caused vaccination rates to drop to 30% which resulted in 200,000 extra whooping cough infections, and an additional 100 deaths.

Of the 194 U.S. pertussis deaths from 2000 to 2009, 152 were in infants ages 1 month or less. Twenty-three deaths were in infants ages 2 to 3 months.

SMALLPOX

Smallpox is the only disease to have been completely wiped by vaccines

30% of smallpox cases resulted in death

VARICELLA (CHICKEN POX)

Before the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine was first licensed by the FDA in 1995, there were 11,000 people hospitalized with chickenpox each year and 100 people died as a result of the disease

MEASLES

In 2008, there were 164 000 measles deaths globally – nearly 450 deaths every day or 18 deaths every hour

More than 95% of measles deaths occur in low-income countries with weak health infrastructures

Measles vaccination resulted in a 78% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2008 worldwide

During 1989-1991, a resurgence of measles in the United States resulted in >100 deaths among >55,000 cases reported

Mark Twain nearly died from a measles infection after intentionally exposing himself to the disease when his friend Will Bowen was infected.

In developing countries, 1-5% of children with measles die from complications of the disease. This death rate may be as high as 25% among people who are displaced, malnourished and have poor access to health care

About 1/10 children with measles also gets an ear infection; up to 1/20 gets pneumonia; 1/1,000 gets encephalitis, and 1-2/1,000 die

TETANUS

Tetanus is not affected by herd immunity. Because tetanus is not passed from one person to another, it does not matter how many people around you are immunized. Your risk of disease remains the same

HEPATITIS

The first vaccine to prevent a form of cancer was the hepatitis B vaccine. Hepatitis B can lead to liver cancer

HPV

5% of 13-year-old girls have sex; the number rises to 20% by the time they reach 14 years

At least 50% of sexually active people will get HPV in their lifetime

There are more than 40 HPV types that can infect the genital areas of males and females

Approximately 20 millions Americans are currently (2011) infected with HPV with another 6 million being added annually

Each year, about 12,000 women get cervical cancer in the U.S. Almost all of these cancers are HPV-associated

Besides cervical cancer HPV causes other cancers. Every year:

Women infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, are two to three times as likely as uninfected women to have had a heart attack or stroke

275,000 women who die every year from cervical cancer. If left unchecked, by 2030 cervical cancer will kill as many as 430,000 women, virtually all in low-income countries.

HPV vaccines protect against HPV types 16 and 18 which cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

THE CONCERNS

During their first 6 months of life, if getting all recommended shots babies receive 4 milligrams of aluminum. By comparison during the same period of time a breastfed baby gets 10 milligrams; a formula fed baby gets 40 milligrams while a soy-based formula fed baby gets 120 milligrams

Young infants have 10 times as much formaldehyde circulating in their bodies than is found in any vaccine

A century ago children got only one vaccine: smallpox. Today they get vaccinated against 14 diseases. The one smallpox vaccine a century had more germ particles than all today’s shots for the 14 diseases combined

Although children in the 1940s only received vaccines to prevent four diseases, they got about 3,200 antigens whereas today’s children receive vaccines to prevent 14 diseases but only get about 156 antigens

Even if children got 11 shots at once, they would still need only 0.1% (1/1,000th) of their immune system to respond

A child’s stress hormone levels peak after one shot. Because that one shot is so stressful, giving a child additional needle sticks doesn’t appreciably increase a child’s distress. So children who receive one shot a month, instead of several at once, may actually have higher total stress levels

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