posts_gdocs: 14VyENlA3wIGTzYmhNvIpVjjXCSKVgXIi2wcJLXffEDM
Data license: CC-BY
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| id | slug | type | content | published | createdAt | publishedAt | updatedAt | publicationContext | revisionId | breadcrumbs | markdown | title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14VyENlA3wIGTzYmhNvIpVjjXCSKVgXIi2wcJLXffEDM | vaccines-children-saved | article | {
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"text": "By the time you finish reading this, around 30 children will have been saved thanks to vaccines.",
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"text": "Over the last 50 years, that adds up to 150 million children.",
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"text": " That\u2019s more than ",
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"text": "That\u2019s 150 million children who will grow up, experience life, and contribute to the world; over a hundred million sets of parents who were spared the tragedy of having to bury their children.",
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"text": "This figure comes from ",
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"text": " from Andrew Shattock and other researchers from around the world. They estimated the number of lives saved from vaccinations against different diseases over the past 50 years.",
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"text": "The two charts below show the number of lives saved, broken down by disease and region.",
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"text": "Vaccination against measles has had the biggest impact, saving 94 million lives over the last 50 years \u2014 more than 60% of the total.",
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"text": "This has been a truly global effort, with more than 5 million children saved in every region, including over 50 million in Africa and 38 million in Southeast Asia. You can see the cumulative number of lives saved by ",
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"text": "Children of all ages have benefited massively from the expansion of immunization programs. But it\u2019s in ",
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"text": "Infant mortality rates have plummeted over the last 50 years.",
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"text": "Globally, they\u2019ve fallen by over two-thirds, from around 10% in 1974 to less than 3% today.",
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"text": "The other 60% of the decline has been driven by other factors, including improved nutrition, prenatal and neonatal care, access to clean water and sanitation, and other basic resources.",
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"text": "50 years ago, very few children were vaccinated outside of Europe and North America. For example, ",
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"text": "In 1974, the ",
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"text": " \u2013 the WHO\u2019s decision-making body \u2013 formed the Essential Programme on Immunization, which aimed to vaccinate all children in the world against the main diseases for which vaccines exist, such as measles, tetanus, tuberculosis, and smallpox.",
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"text": "Soon after, vaccination rates increased steeply \u2014 expanding to over 60% of the world\u2019s children (see the chart below). But by 2000, it was clear that progress was stalling, and many of the world\u2019s poorest infants were still being left behind, especially in Africa and Asia.",
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"text": " \u2014 a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, Unicef, and the World Bank \u2014 was formed to close the gaps and ensure vaccination programs were available for all.",
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"text": "Since then, vaccination rates have increased significantly. More than 80% of infants get all necessary doses of the DTP3 vaccine.",
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"text": "84% of children are also vaccinated against ",
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"text": "More than a million people still die from tuberculosis every year. Hundreds of thousands from meningitis and whooping cough. Tens of thousands from measles, tetanus, and hepatitis B. Deaths caused by different vaccine-preventable diseases are shown in the chart below.",
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"text": "The huge progress we\u2019ve seen should cause us to push harder for universal vaccine coverage, not to pull back. We\u2019re no longer helpless against the diseases our ancestors had no way to fight. We know how to stop children from dying, which makes it even more unacceptable that so many still do.",
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"text": ", vaccine skepticism is much higher. Perhaps this pushback would be lower if we spent more time explaining the huge numbers of children saved by vaccines.",
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"text": "Tomorrow, newspapers could run the headline \u201cAlmost 10,000 children were saved by essential vaccines yesterday\u201d.",
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"text": "Many thanks to Edouard Mathieu and Saloni Dattani for their valuable feedback and comments on this article and Andrew Shattock for providing data on the results.",
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"title": "Vaccines have saved 150 million children over the last 50 years",
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"excerpt": "Every ten seconds, one child is saved by a vaccine against a fatal disease.",
"dateline": "May 06, 2024",
"subtitle": "Every ten seconds, one child is saved by a vaccine against a fatal disease.",
"featured-image": "vaccine-lives-saved-featured-image.png"
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1 | 2024-04-29 13:25:03 | 2024-05-06 07:05:37 | 2024-05-06 07:02:37 | listed | ALBJ4LvAi6NjuHRrOFDlSXwCIx1ogrbpj4WvZ6Lf6s472g8whJk0gcKkel7wezWN4YDYKj_nQo20cD7NOhOFyw | By the time you finish reading this, around 30 children will have been saved thanks to vaccines.1 Over the last 50 years, that adds up to 150 million children.2 That’s more than [twice the population of the United Kingdom](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/population-and-demography?facet=none&country=~GBR&Metric=Population&Sex=Both+sexes&Age+group=Total&Projection+Scenario=None). That’s 150 million children who will grow up, experience life, and contribute to the world. Over a hundred million sets of parents who were spared the tragedy of having to bury their children. This figure comes from [a new study](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00850-X/fulltext) from Andrew Shattock and other researchers from around the world. They estimated the number of lives saved from vaccinations against different diseases over the past 50 years.3 The two charts below show the number of lives saved, broken down by disease and region. Vaccination against measles has had the biggest impact, saving 94 million lives over the last 50 years — more than 60% of the total.4 <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lives-saved-vaccines"/> This has been a truly global effort, with more than 5 million children saved in every region, including over 50 million in Africa and 38 million in Southeast Asia. You can see the cumulative number of lives saved, by [WHO region](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/who-regions), in the chart below. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-lives-saved-vaccination"/> # Vaccination has been a massive driver of reductions in infant mortality Children of all ages have benefited massively from the expansion of immunization programmes. But it’s in infants that vaccines have had the most crucial impact. Infant mortality rates have plummeted over the last 50 years. Globally, they’ve [fallen by more than two-thirds](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/population-and-demography?time=1974..latest&facet=none&country=~OWID_WRL&Metric=Infant+mortality+rate&Sex=Both+sexes&Age+group=Total&Projection+Scenario=None), from 9% in 1974 to less than 3% today. The study’s researchers estimate that 40% of this decline is due to vaccines. The other 60% of the decline has been driven by other factors, including improved nutrition, prenatal and neonatal care, access to clean water and sanitation, and other basic resources. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/infant-mortality-vaccines"/> # Coordinated vaccination programs have saved many lives Outside of Europe and North America, very few children were vaccinated 50 years ago. For example, [fewer than 5% of infants](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00850-X/fulltext) received the vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DTP3). In 1974, the [World Health Assembly](https://www.who.int/about/accountability/governance/world-health-assembly) – the decision-making part of the WHO – formed the Essential Programme on Immunization, which aimed to vaccinate all children in the world against the main diseases for which vaccines exist, such as measles, tetanus, tuberculosis, and smallpox. Soon after, vaccination rates increased steeply — expanding to over 60% of the world’s children. See the chart below. But by 2000, it was clear that progress was stalling, and many of the world’s poorest infants were still being left behind, especially in Africa and Asia. [Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance](https://www.gavi.org/our-alliance/about) — a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, Unicef, and the World Bank — was formed to close the gaps and ensure vaccination programs were available for all. Since then, vaccination rates have increased significantly. More than 80% of infants get all necessary doses of the DTP3 vaccine. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-children-immunized-dtp3?country=African+Region+%28WHO%29~European+Region+%28WHO%29~South-East+Asia+Region+%28WHO%29~Western+Pacific+Region+%28WHO%29~Eastern+Mediterranean+Region+%28WHO%29~Region+of+the+Americas+%28WHO%29~OWID_WRL"/> As the next chart shows, global vaccination against measles [has increased](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-children-vaccinated-with-mcv2?tab=chart&country=African+Region+%28WHO%29~European+Region+%28WHO%29~Region+of+the+Americas+%28WHO%29~Eastern+Mediterranean+Region+%28WHO%29~Western+Pacific+Region+%28WHO%29~South-East+Asia+Region+%28WHO%29~OWID_WRL) from less than 20% in 2000 to over 70% today. Remember from earlier that vaccination against measles has saved the most lives. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-children-vaccinated-with-mcv2?tab=chart&country=African+Region+%28WHO%29~European+Region+%28WHO%29~Region+of+the+Americas+%28WHO%29~Eastern+Mediterranean+Region+%28WHO%29~Western+Pacific+Region+%28WHO%29~South-East+Asia+Region+%28WHO%29~OWID_WRL"/> 84% of children are also vaccinated against [tuberculosis](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/bcg-immunization-coverage-for-tb-among-1-year-olds?tab=chart&country=African+Region+%28WHO%29~European+Region+%28WHO%29~Region+of+the+Americas+%28WHO%29~South-East+Asia+Region+%28WHO%29~Western+Pacific+Region+%28WHO%29~Eastern+Mediterranean+Region+%28WHO%29~OWID_WRL), and 80% against [polio](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/polio-vaccine-coverage-of-one-year-olds?tab=chart) [and ](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/polio-vaccine-coverage-of-one-year-olds?tab=chart)[Hepatitis B](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/immunization-hepb3-of-one-year-old-children?tab=chart&country=African+Region+%28WHO%29~European+Region+%28WHO%29~Region+of+the+Americas+%28WHO%29~South-East+Asia+Region+%28WHO%29~Western+Pacific+Region+%28WHO%29~Eastern+Mediterranean+Region+%28WHO%29~OWID_WRL). Tens of millions of children are alive thanks to these investments in immunization programs across the world. # More children can be saved with higher vaccine rates Despite this immense progress, there is still a lot more to be done. More than a million people still die from tuberculosis every year. Hundreds of thousands from meningitis and whooping cough. Tens of thousands from measles, tetanus, and hepatitis B. Deaths caused by different vaccine-preventable diseases are shown in the chart below. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-caused-by-vaccine-preventable-diseases-over-time"/> The world is also close to [eradicating polio](https://ourworldindata.org/polio), which would make it the second human disease to be eradicated (the first was [smallpox](https://ourworldindata.org/smallpox)). What’s more, scientists are now producing effective vaccines against other tragic diseases, such as [malaria](https://ourworldindata.org/malaria). There are now [two recommended](https://www.who.int/news/item/02-10-2023-who-recommends-r21-matrix-m-vaccine-for-malaria-prevention-in-updated-advice-on-immunization) malaria vaccines that [could potentially save](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1473309923008162) hundreds of thousands of children every year. The huge progress we’ve seen should cause us to push harder for universal vaccine coverage, not to pull back. We’re no longer helpless against the diseases our ancestors had no way to fight. We know how to stop children from dying, which makes it even more unacceptable that so many still do. This will require increased investment, coordination from governments to provide universal immunization programs, and acceptance from the public. Most people in the world think that [vaccinating children is important](https://ourworldindata.org/vaccine-skepticism). However, in [some countries](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-agrees-vaccines-are-important-wellcome), vaccine skepticism is much higher. Perhaps this pushback would be lower if we spent more time explaining the huge numbers of children that have been saved by vaccines. Tomorrow, newspapers could run the headline “Almost 10,000 children were saved by essential vaccines yesterday”.5 They could have printed this headline _daily_ for decades. They won’t because this is not a groundbreaking new event. It’s progress that accumulates day after day but transforms the lives of hundreds of millions of kids and parents across the world. <Callout title="Acknowledgements"/> Every minute, around 6 children are saved thanks to vaccines. Based on average reading speeds (and a little extra time to look at the charts), it should take you 5 minutes to finish this article. That means 30 children will be saved in that time. It's estimated that around 6 children are saved every minute. That's about 3.2 million children per year. And just over 150 million children over the course of 50 years. Shattock et al. (2024). Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization. The Lancet. This is based on data of disease prevalence up to 2021, and vaccine coverage up to 2022. Data for the last two years is based on extrapolation. The true figure is around 8,640. Approximately 6 children are saved per minute. That’s 360 per hour, or 8,640 in 24 hours. | Vaccines have saved 150 million children over the last 50 years |