Where is the science behind the claim that vaccines save millions of lives?
Many science and media publication make the claim that “vaccines save lives” or millions of lives are saved every year because of vaccines, but where is the source data to justify such estimations? For the past 3 years, when ever I come across such a claim I’ve search to see if the author cited the source of their claim, but they don’t.
When starting to read Dr Aseem Malhotra‘s September 2022 paper “Curing the pandemic of misinformation on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines through real evidence-based medicine”, I couldn’t get past the first paragraph. In his opening statement, just like many vaccine papers, he made the bold claim that collectively traditional vaccines save 4-5 million lives every year, but for the first time, in seeing such a statement, the source was cited, the World Health Organisation (WHO). Finally I had a way of tracking down the science behind the claim, or so I thought.
Collectively, traditional vaccines are estimated to save approximately 4–5 million lives per year.
Malhotra paper
Now armed with the WHO Fact’s in Pictures on Immunization page link (URL) I went to check it out and was shocked (not really shocked) to find just a statement of alleged fact, with no citation, no “evidence” for how they determined 4-5 million deaths are prevented each year from immunization. This page is dated December 5, 2019, which is curious, and more curious.
The “Facts in Pictures” page for immunization does not cite the source of their 4-5 million current lives saved claim, it seems we just have to believe what the WHO writes as “fact”. What about the image with the little girls, what is with their fingers, is that a vaccination mark, and is that a vaccination card they are holding? I guess that is the “fact” in that picture a mark of being jabbed! (The same finger image is found in THIS 2017 report).
Suddenly (2021) from 2-3 million to 4-5 million lives saved
The Immunization page URL is first archived in May 2018 where there was just “an additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided” claim. It wasn’t until July 18, 2018 the page suddenly made the claim that “Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year.” This is about half of what Dr Malhotra quoted in the current page, (which I have archived April 7, 2024 as proof), that is preventing 4-5 million deaths every year. The web page is dated “December 5, 2019”.
Looking at the archived pages, the closest to Dec 5th is December 20, 2019, which on that page version it strangely still mentions “2-3 million”, in fact it is not until April 27, 2021 before the 4-5 million is suddenly changed over night, yet they didn’t adjust the date, it still states “December 5, 2019”, not April 27, 2021. Is this just an oversight? I wonder, but it sure looks suspicious. No matter what, there still is no citation for the claim, or justification for why such a dramatic increase.
Side Note: Clicking on the “Credits” in the bottom of the WHO website image reveals “UN Foundation/Stuart Ramson“, so I typed that into DuckDuckGo and it seems Stuart Ramson is the photographer for the United Nations Foundation (UNF). So I look up UNF and find it is a non-profit, NGO that the web archives date back to 1999 with the first post marking the world reaching 6 Billion population! Curious.
The UNF was started in September 18, 1997 with a $1 Billion gift from R. E. Turner Vice Chairman, Time Warner Inc.. Their mission to help the UN Agenda for the 21st Century (Agenda 21) where children are key, and “$20 million a year – to benefit the neediest children” is allocated by UNF.
This is an example of the tangents and historical rabbit holes I get taken down when researching, trying to piece together the money and influence trail that has crafted the “vaccines are our saviour” narrative.
Searching for the source of the WHO’s “vaccines save millions of lives” claim
This page contains the link I’ve found digging through the WHO archives (and affiliated sites) trying to find a source for their estimated “vaccines save millions of lives” claim. All I find is statements and one citation to a Gates foundation funded paper.
At the time of writing (April 7, 2024) it appears the “millions of lives saved” due to vaccines claim is more turtles all the way down. just a marketing statement by an “authority head”, if they did have the date, they would cite it!
Links in reverse chronological order
Content will be added as I find reference to “lives saved” narrative.
2024
May 15, 2024 – CDC: Why CDC is Involved in Global Immunization – ARCHIVE
- (1) Modeling the impact of vaccination for the immunization agenda 2030: Deaths averted due to vaccination against 14 pathogens in 194 countries from 2021-2030.Carter A, Msemburi W, Sim SY, A.M. Gaythorpe K, Lindstrand A, Hutubessy RCW. SSRN Electronic Journal. April 20, 2021. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3830781 – READ
2023
July 18, 2023 – WHO: Immunization coverage facts – READ, ARCHIVES
- Introducing a new term “zero-dose children” that being children missing out on any vaccination (i.e. unvaccinated)
- Zero dose children: 19.5 million infants (2016), 12.9 million (2019), 18.1 million ( 2021) to 14.3 million (2022)
- “While immunization is one of the most successful public health interventions, coverage plateaued in the decade prior to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic, associated disruptions, and vaccination efforts strained health systems in 2020 and 2021, resulting in dramatic setbacks”
- zero dose children coverage: 19.5 million infants (2016), 12.9 million (2019), 18.1 million ( 2021) to 14.3 million ( 2022)
2021
June 24, 2021 – Daily Sceptic: “The Vaccines Kill Two People for Every Three Lives They Save”, Says Peer-Reviewed Vaccine Study – READ
April 27, 2021 – WHO Facts in Pictures: Immunization (web page still dated Dec 5, 2019) – ARCHIVE, READ, April 7, 2024 still Dec 5, 2019 – ARCHIVE, the closest archive to Dec 5, 2019 is Dec 20, 2019.
- “Immunization currently prevents 4-5 million deaths every year”
- “Immunization prevents deaths every year in all age groups from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza and measles. It is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions. An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however, if global vaccination coverage improves.”
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210427171733/https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/immunization – LINK, (for some reason the archive won’t bring up the date, so I place the URL for you to see the date denoting 2021/04/27)
- On April 26, 2021 – “fact” states 2-3 million, the day before 4-5 million – ARCHIVE
- What was happening around April 27, 2021 that could prompt the need for such a bold public health claim? (who really knows!) – TIMELINE
- April 6, 2021 – Biden: 150 Millionth COVID-19 shot: get vaccinated “can save your life and the lives of others” – READ, ARCHIVE
- April 19, 2021 – Biden started the $1billion public “education campaign” on get vaccinated – TIMELINE
- April 20, 2021 – WHO calls mRNA/LNP a “vaccine platform technology” no longer a product, as the pandemic have provided remarkable proof of concept – TIMELINE
- April 23, 2021 – CDC recommend COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women – TIMELINE
- April 28, 2021 – Biden’s 100th day: “We’re vaccinating the nation… After I promised we’d get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots into people’s arms in 100 days, we will have provided over 220 million COVID shots in those 100 days”…There’s no wall high enough to keep any virus out. And our own vaccine supply — as it grows to meet our needs; and we’re meeting them — will become an arsenal of vaccines for other countries, just as America was the arsenal of democracy for the world” – ARCHIVE (I’d hate to be the translator to make sense of his word salad!!)
- April 30, 2021 – CDC breakthrough infections now public, although they knew this since early 2021 – TIMELINE
April 20, 2021 -SSRN Electronic Journal. Modeling the impact of vaccination for the immunization agenda 2030: Deaths averted due to vaccination against 14 pathogens in 194 countries from 2021-2030. by Carter A, Msemburi W, Sim SY, A.M. Gaythorpe K, Lindstrand A, Hutubessy RCW. – READ, ARCHIVE preprint – PDF, CDC Global Immuniataion (May 2024) – CREDIT, County Antigen Spreadsheet – EXCEL
- “Interpretation: The results from this global analysis demonstrate the major impact of mortality reductions if the IA2030 targets are met by 2030. Deaths caused by vaccine preventable diseases disproportionately affect LMICs in the African region.”
- “Overall, an estimated 51.0 million (95% CI: 48.5 – 53.7) deaths are expected to be averted due to vaccinations administered between the years 2021 and 2030. With immunization coverage projected to increase over 2021-2030 an average of 5.1 million per year (4.9 – 5.4) deaths will be averted annually, with 4.4 million(3.6- 5.1) deaths be averted for the year 2021, gradually rising to 5.8 million(4.9-6.6) deaths averted in 2030. The largest proportion of deaths is attributed to Measles and Hepatitis B accounting for 18.8 million (16.7-21.1) and 14 million (13.6-14.4) of total deaths averted respectively.”
- Modeling was for ten pathogens (Hepatitis B virus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, rubella, yellow fever),…”For four pathogens (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and tuberculosis), we used data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study and existing literature on vaccine efficacy.” [total 14 pathogens]
- Leveraging the data from 18 modeling groups as part of the Vaccine Impact Model Consortium (VIMC) WEBSITE, hosted at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London – WEBSITE
- “Funding Statement: The project funding was received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation“
Funded by BMGF, Wellcome Trust and GAVI
January 28, 2021 – Vaccine Impact Modelling Consortium: Vaccines against 10 diseases prevented 37 million deaths in LMICs in the last 20 years – READ
- The Lancet: Estimating the health impact of vaccination against ten pathogens in 98 low-income and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2030: a modelling study – Li, Neil Ferguson et al – READ,
- “Global targets for vaccination have also continued to grow in ambition; the Global Vaccine Action Plan framework was launched in 2012 by WHO with the aim of preventing millions of deaths by 2020 through access to vaccines in all countries. This was further reinforced by target 3.8 of the Sustainable Development Goals calling for access to vaccines for all by 2030.”
- Funded by GAVI and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Preprint August 27, 2019 – READ, PDF (They updated it before peer review. Why?)
- Imperial College Press Release: Vaccines prevented 37 million deaths in Low-Middle Income Countries in the last 20 years (2000-2019) – 36 million in children under 5 years old. – READ
- 2.1 million deaths/yr from measles averted in future years (2020-2030)!
- COVID-19 “…a timely reminder that we cannot allow the pandemic to disrupt routine vaccinations”
- [How many died because of vaccination? and why did they not go back to the 1980s? – WATCH]
- VIMC: Science Journal for Kids (and teachers) – How many lives do vaccines save? – READ, PDF, Imperial college – SOURCE, An NGO based in Texas – REF, REF, Started as a blog in May 2015 – REF
These findings show that since 2000, 36 million children under 5 have been saved by vaccines and another 28 million will be saved by 2030.
The magnitude of this cannot be underestimated. As a result of a simple vaccination, 36 million families were not left grieving for their child or baby – and these children were given the chance to grow up.
Professor Neil Ferguson
- VIMC Vaccine Impact – Data Visualisation Tool – HERE
2020
December 20, 2020 – WHO Facts in Pictures: Immunization (web page still dated Dec 5, 2019)- ARCHIVE
- Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year
August 2020 – Health Affiars: Return On Investment From Immunization Against 10 Pathogens In 94 Low- And Middle-Income Countries, 2011–30 – So Yoon Sim et al (Authors from WHO, Johns Hopkins , GSK vaccines, BMGF) – READ, CDC – CREDIT
- This study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant No. OPP1128214), obvious Conflicts of Interest
(2) = Sim et al ROI paper
2019
December 20, 2019 (archive date, closest archive to Dec 5, 2019) – WHO Facts in Pictures: Immunization – the web page is dated December 5, 2019 – ARCHIVE, previous ARCHIVE is Oct 18, 2019, dated July 18, 2019.
- Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year
July 18, 2019 – WHO Facts in Pictures: Immunization – ARCHIVE (with no citation)
- Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year…An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however if global immunization coverage improves.
July 2019 – Progress and Challenges with Achieving Universal Immunization Coverage – WHO/UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage – PDF
- Just one vaccine. Notice the words used.
[natural immunity would confer life time protection!]
First time “probably” used
January 9, 2019 – TED Talk: How vaccines train the immune system in ways no one expected | Christine Stabell Benn – WATCH
- “The use of DTP vaccine may kill more children than it saves” – EXCERPT
2018
March 22, 2018 – WHO Facts in Pictures: Immunization – ARCHIVE (with no citation)
- An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however, if global vaccination coverage improves.” No mention of the base number
February 28, 2018 – WHO Facts in Pictures: State of global health – READ, ARCHIVE Some claims by WHO
- In 2015, more than 16,000 children under age five died every day (5.84 million/year)
- 45% of deaths among children under age five occur during the first four weeks of life – they then refer to neonates.
- In 2015, an estimated 2.6 million babies were stillborn
- 1.3 million deaths in 2015 were attributable to hepatitis
- Global average life expectancy increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s to 71.4 years
February 8, 2018 – WHO: Immunization coverage – ARCHIVE, January 2018 – ARCHIVE
- “Immunization averts an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles; however, an additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided if global vaccination coverage improves.”
- Global vaccination coverage has stalled at 86%, with no significant changes during the past year
- “The main goal of the 2017 campaign with the theme #VaccinesWork is to raise awareness about the critical importance of full immunization throughout life, and its role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.” – REF
2017
2017 – WHO: National Immunization Coverage Scorecards estimates for 2017 – PDF, ARCHIVE
- WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) for 1998 to 2017 – REF, ARCHIVES, 2017 – ARCHIVE
- This report led to WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) data with vaccination coverage, unvaccinated and mortality by “vaccine preventable diseases”- 2015 – ARCHIVE
- Septemer 6, 2017 Data, statistics and graphics – ARHVIE
2015
October 2015 – WHO: Vaccinations made friendly – Combating vaccine hesitancy – ARCHIVE
- “Globally, 1 in 5 children still do not receive routine life-saving immunizations, and an estimated 1.5 million children still die each year of diseases that could be prevented by vaccines that already exist. Addressing vaccine hesitancy is essential to close the global immunization gap.”
2014
June 6, 2014 – WHO: SAGE non-specific effects of vaccines Working Group – Evidence based recommendations on non-specific effects of BCG, DTP-containing and measles-containing vaccines on mortality in children under 5 years of age – PDF, CREDIT, TED Talk – CONTEXT
- “These studies had significant methodological limitations. Because of these limitations, the overall effects of DTP vaccines under different epidemiological conditions remain unclear, in particular under circumstances where the burden of target diseases has been reduced to very low levels”
- The WHO, after all these years, still don’t have study that can draw conclusions. The vaccinated vs unvaccinated study by Abby seems to have little value!
2013
WHO – Vaccine Safety Basics e-Course – This course aims to establish a shared understanding among professionals whose work is linked to vaccine safety issues – ARCHIVE
- “Lack of information, or inadequate or misleading information about vaccine safety increases the risk of the erosion of trust and confidence in health experts, immunization programmes and governments. Ultimately it can result in lost opportunities to protect health. WHO estimates that two million additional lives could be saved every year by the effective use of readily available vaccines”
2012
May 2012 – WHO 65th World Health Assembly – SAGE Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) 2011-2020 (resolution WHA65.17) framework was endorsed, to help realize the vision of the Decade of Vaccines launched by Bill Gates in 2010 – REF, GVAP- ARCHIVE, READ, UNICEF – READ
- GVAP is “a framework to prevent millions of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases by 2020″
2011
January 2011 – WHO: Immunization – ARCHIVE
- “Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines stimulate the body’s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.”
- Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases and is estimated to avert over between 2 and 3 million deaths each year….[immunization] has clearly defined target groups; it can be delivered effectively through outreach activities; and vaccination does not require any major lifestyle change”
2010
January 29, 2010 – Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $10 Billion in Call for Decade of Vaccines – ARCHIVE, GAVI celebrates 10 years – ARCHIVE, WHO – ARCHIVE
- “Despite these achievements…2.4 million children continue to die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.” – GAVI – REF
- BMGF: 2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates: The Miracle of Vaccines – ARCHIVE
- “Vaccines are a miracle because with three doses, mostly given in the first two years of life, you can prevent deadly diseases for an entire lifetime.” says Bill Gates, who is Rich
- “se the impact is so incredible, vaccines are the foundation’s biggest area of investment—more than $800 million every year—and the return is substantial.”
- “Each year, more than 100 million children are immunized against tuberculosis, polio, measles, and other diseases. But millions of other children, mostly in the world’s poorest countries, are not immunized.” – REF
2008
October 2008 – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation : Vaccine-Preventable Diseases – ARCHIVE
- “Every year, 2.4 million children die from preventable diseases despite the availability of effective vaccines.”
- “Our goal is to increase the use of effective but underused vaccines and introduce new vaccines to prevent a total of 4 million deaths per year.”
- Public and private groups from around the world have come together in an effort to eventually immunize all children.
- Funding for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases – “We do not fund grants to individuals” – “We’re supporting efforts to protect children and help raise global immunization rates to 90 percent,” – REF
2008 – WHO: The Burden Vaccine-preventable diseases – In 2008, WHO estimated that 1.5 million of deaths among children under 5 years were due to diseases that could have been prevented by routine vaccination – ARCHIVE – (The graph as a refrence, though hard to read) – Web page has list of vax-preventable diseases.
- June 5, 2010 – The Lancet: Black RE et al – Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis – READ (for the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group of WHO and UNICEF, funded by WHO, UNICEF, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
- “Of the estimated 8·795 million deaths in children younger than 5 years worldwide in 2008, infectious diseases caused 68% (5·970 million) with the largest percentages due to pneumonia…”
- The remaining 9 million are “estimated” by the WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologics (WHO IVB). No citation for that portion of the data is provided.
2008 – WHO : Global Health Observatory (GHO): 2-3 million deaths averted annually from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles by vaccination – ARCHIVE –
The mortality figures in all quote 2008 yet reports are 2009, 2012 and 2014!
- 2014 Global Immunization coverage report – mortality 1.5 million for 2008 – ARCHIVE
- 2015-16 the stopped updating the mortality number – ARCHIVE
2007
April 18, 2007 – CDC: How Vaccines Prevent Disease – ARCHIVE, Vaccine basics – ARCHIVE
- “Vaccines prevent disease in the people who receive them and protect those who come into contact with unvaccinated individuals. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives….Vaccine-preventable diseases have a costly impact, resulting in doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths. Sick children can also cause parents to lose time from work.” [so how do they work? what does “protect” mean?]
January 26, 2007 – BMGF: Immunization Rates Hit Record Highs in Poor Countries – GAVI Immunization Programs in 2006 Prevented 600,000 Future Deaths, New Data Show – ARCHIVE, GAVI press release – ARCHIVE
- “New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the GAVI Alliance, a groundbreaking global initiative to increase access to children’s vaccines, has brought immunization rates to record highs in poor countries.”
2006
February 15, 2006 – WHO: Immunization against diseases of public health importance – ARCHIVE
- “Vaccines – which protect against disease by inducing immunity – are widely and routinely administered around the world based on the common-sense principle that it is better to keep people from falling ill than to treat them once they are ill. Suffering, disability, and death are avoided”
- “Immunization averted about two million deaths in 2002″
- “Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and even eradicating disease.” – smallpox! – REF
2002
November 2, 2002 – WHO: Low investment in immunization and vaccines threatens Global Health – Immunization saves 3 million lives every year, but three million more could be saved – READ , ARCHIVE, 75% worlds children are reached with “essential vaccines” at US$1.56 billion a year
- Immunization saves 3 million lives every year, but three million more could be saved
- Measles “causes about 700 000 deaths a year – (157,700 in 2011 – ARCHIVE)
- Hepatitis B causes 520,000 deaths a year worldwide
- Haemophilus influenzae type B kills 450,000 children in developing countries (meningitis and pneumonia – 1998 Position paper on Hib B vaccine REF)
- “…”We need to act fast and effectively to ensure that children and adults everywhere have access to life-saving vaccines. From a global perspective, this is the only way of avoiding major epidemics of new and old diseases.” says Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO
2002 – WHO : The burden of Vaccine-preventable diseases – In 2002, WHO estimated that 1.4 million of deaths among children under 5 years were due to diseases that could have been prevented by routine vaccination – ARCHIVE, ARCHIVE
- According to the WHO data 10.46 million children under 5 died from vaccine preventable disease in 2002, with a total of ~57 million deaths of all ages.
- The table was updated for 2008 data in 2013 – ARCHIVE
1998
January 10, 1998 – WHO Press Release: Vaccines can save up to 12 MILLION LIVES YEARLY – many new vacccines could be depolyed soon – ARCHIVE (4 million)
- Up to four million lives can be saved by the full deployment of existing but under-used vaccines, with costs from pennies to a few dollars per dose.
- “The development of new vaccines for diseases such as rotavirus diarrhoea and pneumococcal pneumonia in infants and the widespread deployment of under-used vaccines for diseases like measles can save up to 12 million lives a year, mostly from infections in childhood says the new Strategic Plan of the Children’s Vaccine Initiative (CVI).” Managing Opportunity and Change: AVision of Vaccination for the 21st Century
- Dr Suzanne Humphries on CVI Strategic Plan – WATCH
- “The Children’s Vaccine Initiative is co-sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation.”
- “Vaccination is our most powerful weapon in the war against infectious diseases,” says J.W. Lee, M.D., Executive Secretary of the CVI.
1997
1997 – UNICEF: The State of the World’s Children 1997 (Part 1) – ARCHIVE, READ, SOURCE 9 million lives could be saved from immuniztion and antibiotics
- “…millions of children’s lives having been saved since 1990. But much remains to be done. More than 12.5 million children under five in developing countries continue to die each year, 9 million of them from causes for which inexpensive solutions and measures such as immunization and antibiotics have been routinely applied in the industrialized world for 50 years.2” [UNICEF is quoting themselves]
- 2. UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 1996, UNICEF, New York, 1995, p. 10; and UNICEF, The Progress of Nations 1996, p. 23. – PDF
- UNICEF Facts & Figures 199 – ARCHIVE, Health – ARCHIVE
- About 2 million children worldwide under age five still die every year from six vaccine-preventable illnesses
1996
1996 – UNICEF Facts & Figures 1996 – Health – ARCHIVE
- About 2.4 million children worldwide under age five still die every year from six vaccine-preventable illnesses: diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio, tuberculosis and tetanus. Developing countries reached a milestone in 1990 by immunizing an average 80% of children under one against these diseases. Coverage in 1977 was only 5% (were all vaccines available then??) – ARCHIVE
- Sub-Saharan Africa has increased coverage from 20% in the early 1980s to over 50% by 1994.
- Usually little more than a nuisance in industrialized countries, measles still claims the lives of 1.2 million children in developing countries each year. Measles immunization now prevents about 1.5 million child deaths a year, after immunization rates rose from about 25% in 1980 to over 80% in most regions in 1995.
- about 90,000 children are still crippled each year by polio …The goal of worldwide elimination [of polio] by the year 2000…The western hemisphere was declared polio-free in 1994
- About 3 million children die from dehydration due to diarrhoeal diseases, 80% of them in the first two years of life. [no vaccine yet]
1995
1995 – UN Foundation: Children’s Health: Challenges for the 21st Century – ARCHIVE, link to UN/WHO
- In 1974 only 5% of children in developing countries were immunized against polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis – (the six WHO EIP vaccines targets)
- By 1995, the immunization rate increased to 80%, saving more than 3 million children’s lives each year.
- UNICEF partners with WHO to provide the six basic vaccinations mentioned above that protect children from preventable but often deadly diseases. Without such protection, 2.7 million children would die from measles, 1.2 million would die from tetanus, and 1 million from whooping cough.” [total of 4.9 million saved!] – REF
1980
1980 – WHO declares smallpox eradicated – a new “enemy” is now needed to focus efforts
- “During the 1970’s and 1980‘s [not true, 1980 was the year smallpox declared eradicated], WHO led the successful global campaign for the eradication of smallpox. Prior to its eradication, smallpox affected up to 15 million people a year worldwide – killing 2 million annually.” …Smallpox eradication saves the world more than $1 billion/year in vaccination costs alone – and billions more in avoided medical costs.” – REF
- Following the success of the smallpox eradication campaign, WHO is leading the way to eradicate another debilitating disease, poliomyelitis” – REF
- “WHO believes that the complete eradication of polio can be realized by the year 2000. Eradication of the disease will result in annual savings of more than $1.5 billion worldwide” – REF
1913
1913 – Modern Medicine by Sir William Osler, Volume 1, Chaper 23: “Vaccination” – READ
Definition. — Vaccination is the inoculation of vaccinia, by means of the virus of cowpox, and has for its object the production of a pock, with general symptoms, followed by more or less complete immunity against smallpox.
Yet by 1913 the word vaccine meant more than “vaccinia virus”, it could be injections of any “immunising” agent such as antitoxin serum injections or antitoxin-toxin vaccines then they began to employ Pasteur’s bacteria vaccine, calling it “vaccine treatment” or “vaccine therapy“. But was “vaccine” actually defined or just suggested?
An ideal vaccine should theoretically contain all the immunizing properties of the living bacteria in a form both incapable of infection and easily absorbed by the tissues. The way seems clear to employ bacilli for immunizing infants provided the bacillus used is avirulent for guinea-pigs and monkeys.
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