Vaccine Myth #2: Vaccines Don’t Work

This is the second entry in a series from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child.

Probably the best recent example of the positive impact of vaccines is the Hib vaccine, which prevents meningitis, ear infections, and other serious infections caused by the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).

When the current Hib vaccine was introduced to this country in 1990, Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis.

For decades, Hib had caused approximately 15,000 cases of meningitis and 400 to 500 deaths every year. After the current Hib vaccine was introduced, the incidence of Hib meningitis declined to fewer than fifty cases per year—typical of all widely used vaccines.

In England, it is estimated that the meningitis C vaccination has saved 500 lives since 2000 and the pneumococcal vaccine, introduced in 2006, has prevented 470 deaths or serious illness in young children.

Before routine meningitis immunization was introduced in 1999, up to 78 children a year were killed by the infection.

The incidence of disease is dramatically reduced within several years after a vaccine against a disease is introduced.

Not only do vaccines work, they work phenomenally well—and they save lives!

You can read more about vaccine myths in my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child.