Are vaccines an effective tool to prevent disease?

Vaccines prevent disease - I'll pull the latest effectiveness evidence for you.

Yes, vaccines are one of the most effective tools to prevent disease.

Evidence from major health organizations shows they are highly effective at preventing infectious diseases, reducing deaths, complications, and outbreaks:

> Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases. Over the past 50 years, essential vaccines against just 14 diseases have saved at least 154 million lives.

> Immunization currently prevents 3.5 million to 5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza and measles.

> We now have vaccines to prevent more than 30 life-threatening diseases and infections, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives.

How they work

> Immunization is a global health success story, saving millions of lives every year. Vaccines reduce risks of getting a disease by working with your body’s natural defenses to build protection. When you get a vaccine, your immune system responds.

> Vaccines train your immune system to create antibodies, just as it does when it’s exposed to a disease. However, because vaccines contain only killed or weakened forms of germs like viruses or bacteria, they do not cause the disease or put you at risk of its complications.

In addition to direct protection, high vaccine coverage creates community or herd immunity, which helps protect people who cannot be vaccinated and helps prevent and control outbreaks:

> Vaccines are also critical to the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks.

Historical evidence of effectiveness

Vaccines have led to dramatic declines in disease incidence and to eradication of diseases:

Because of this impact, public health authorities describe:

> Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools available for preventing serious disease and death.

And:

> Vaccines are among the most cost-effective ways to protect against infectious diseases.

Are vaccines 100% effective?

No vaccine is 100% effective for every person, but most routine vaccines are highly effective (often 85-99% effective after recommended doses) at preventing disease, and even more effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, complications like blindness, deafness, paralysis, brain damage, infertility, cancer, and death, and death after breakthrough infection.

Effectiveness can vary by vaccine, number of doses, age, immune status, and virus variants, and protection may wane over time requiring boosters. When effectiveness is not absolute, vaccines still produce a measurable reduction in severe outcomes.

Like any medicine, vaccines can cause side effects, but these are usually very minor and of short duration, such as a sore arm or mild fever, while more serious side effects are extremely rare and continuously monitored by national and global safety systems.

Consult your healthcare provider to find out what vaccinations are needed for you and your family.