Are vaccines an effective tool to prevent disease?

Yes

Vaccines are a powerful disease prevention tool — I'll gather the latest evidence to show how effective they are.

Yes, vaccines are a highly effective tool to prevent disease - widely regarded as one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions.

Evidence of effectiveness:

•World Health Organization states: "Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases" and "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"

•Quantified impact: "Over the past 50 years, essential vaccines against just 14 diseases have saved at least 154 million lives". During the same period, vaccination contributed to 40% of the drop in infant deaths.

•Modeled data published in The Lancet and cited by WHO found vaccination against 14 key pathogens has saved an estimated 154 million lives worldwide since 1974, the vast majority in early childhood.

•Current annual impact: "Immunization currently prevents 3.5 million to 5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza and measles". Similarly, "There are now vaccines capable of preventing more than 30 life-threatening diseases, and immunization prevents between 3.5 million and 5 million deaths each year".

•Breadth of protection: "We now have vaccines to prevent more than 30 life-threatening diseases and infections, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives", including cervical cancer, cholera, COVID-19, diphtheria, hepatitis B, influenza, measles, polio, and others.

•Historical disease control:

•Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980 - "the first, and to date the only, human disease to be completely eliminated through deliberate human actions" through systematic vaccination.

•"Thanks to vaccines, we’ve eradicated smallpox, nearly eliminated polio, and drastically reduced diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles and many other diseases"

•Introduction of Salk and Sabin polio vaccines led to a "96% decrease in the incidence of polio that occurred within 7 years"

•Vaccines are described as "among the most cost-effective ways to protect against infectious diseases"

•How they work: "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"

•Effectiveness against severe outcomes: "vaccines are proving effective against existing variants, especially at preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death"

The WHO currently ranks vaccination as "one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions".

Citations (3)

1who.intGovernment
Vaccines and immunization: Vaccine safety
Backs: “Yes, vaccines are a highly effective tool to prevent disease - widely regarded as one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions. Evidence of effectiveness:”
attribution, article, points to yes. Claim: Vaccination is widely regarded, including by WHO, as one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions.
2who.intGovernment
Vaccines and immunization
Backs: “World Health Organization states: "Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases" and "Immunization is a global health success story, saving millions of lives every year.”
evidence, home page, points to yes. Claim: WHO states vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent diseases and a global health success story saving millions of lives.
3medscape.comNews and mediaquality 0.93
Vaccines Saved Millions: The Success That Became Invisible
Backs: “Quantified impact: "Over the past 50 years, essential vaccines against just 14 diseases have saved at least 154 million lives". During the same period, vaccination contributed to 40% of the drop in infant deaths. Modeled data published in The Lancet and cited by WHO found vaccination against 14 key pathogens has saved…”
statistic, article, points to yes. Claim: Vaccines against 14 diseases saved at least 154 million lives over 50 years and contributed to 40% of the drop in infant deaths.