7 facts about vaccines that show why they're one of the most important inventions in human history

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-vaccines-are-so-important-2015-2



1. Vaccines save tens of thousands of American children every year.
Leon FarrantVaccination has eliminated or reduced a wide range of once-common diseases in the U.S.

Without current vaccines, approximately 42,000 of the 4.1 million children born in the U.S. in 2009 would die early deaths. For that same group of kids, researchers estimate that vaccines have prevented and will prevent 20 million cases of disease.


Vaccination has eliminated or reduced a wide range of once-common diseases in the U.S.

2. Vaccines wipe out deadly diseases.
Between 1900 and 1979, smallpox killed approximately 300 million people and disfigured millions more — that's more deaths than occurred in all wars and conflicts in the 20th century.

3. Vaccines prevent chronic diseases, including certain cancers.
Vaccines are primarily known for offering protection against infectious diseases, like measles and smallpox, but that's not all they do.

4. Vaccines save billions of dollars every year.
Treating someone who is already sick is expensive, and the sicker they are, the worse those costs can be. Diseases that disable or kill people can require lifelong treatment. Not only is that treatment expensive, but disability and death also reduce or eliminate lifetime earnings.


Vaccines are highly cost-effective.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-vaccines-are-so-important-2015-2#ixzz3R9eo5D9H

[hobbit709]

1. facts mean little to anti-science anti-vaxxers whose minds are made up.

They will still scream about autism, mercury, and big pharma

[Heidi]

2. Kick, kick, kick!!!!

And mornin', sunshine!

[SunSeeker]

3. K & R

[brer cat]

4. There you go again

with all those pesky facts, xchrom.

Thanks.

[sarge43]

5. Another fun fact about vaccines: Armies as victims and vectors of infectious diseases

For example, 90% of the Revolutionary War causalities were caused by disease. WWI, 16.5%. By WWII the percentage was .6%. The principal reason for this dramatic change was the development of vaccines. An emphasis on cleanliness and flat better medical care certainly mattered, but it was vaccines.

When you're in the service, among other things, you're turned into a walking dart board. My little yellow vax book is full.

Just as important, the vector factor: Until the 20th century, armies were marching petri dishes. Typhus was universally known as the army disease. If an infected (name a disease) army marched through your town, almost guaranteed the death rate would skyrocket, especially if troops were carrying a disease for which you and yours had no natural immunity.

Most experts now agree that American army was the vector for the 1918 flu pandemic.