Post : How Many Lives Has the MMR Vaccine Saved?
URL : [link removed]
Posted : May 21, 2024 at 8:26 pm
Author : Vincent Iannelli, MD
Tags : autism, benefits, Canada, measles deaths, MMR, MMR impact, pre-vaccine era, Steve Kirsch
Categories : Vaccine Fact Check

Have you ever wondered just how many lives the MMR vaccine has saved?

[link removed] It's stunning how wrong ( [link removed] ) Steve Kirsch ( [link removed] ) is and how easy it is to refute his work. When will other anti-vax influencers ( [link removed] ) start thinking that he is controlled opposition?

>

It's actually a good question ( [link removed] ) , as it helps reinforce just how important it is to get vaccinated and protected.

How Many Lives Has the MMR Vaccine Saved?

Well, it does if you do the math right...

> "At best, the measles vaccine might save 5 lives/yr in the US, if we believe the CDC. Here’s how we do the calculation."
>
> Steve Kirsch

Steve Kirsch ( [link removed] ) , not surprisingly, gets his math very, very wrong when he makes the claim that measles vaccines will only save 5 lives each year in the United States - an 82% reduction.

Wait, the MMR vaccine ( [link removed] ) is about 99% effective when given as two doses, so where does Kirsch get 82%?

> "On the basis of the revised model for estimating measles cases and deaths and 2022 data, the estimated number of measles cases decreased 75%, from an estimated 36,463,000 in 2000 to 9,232,300 in 2022; the estimated annual number of measles deaths decreased 82%, from 772,900 in 2000 to 136,200 in 2022."
>
> Progress Toward Measles Elimination — Worldwide, 2000–2022

Kirsch misinterprets a CDC study ( [link removed] ) that simply states that measles deaths decreased 82% since 2000.

Now, since everyone in the world wasn't vaccinated, it is easy to see that the the CDC isn't saying that the measles vaccine effectiveness ( [link removed] ) was 82%!

So how many lives have really have been saved by the measles vaccine?

Let's thank Steve Kirsch ( [link removed] ) for highlighting the fact that measles containing vaccines have:

* prevented about 94 million deaths worldwide since 1974

* prevented about 57 million deaths worldwide since 2000

* prevented about 29,500 deaths in the United States since 1965

* prevented between 41,000 to 56,000 deaths in India just between 2010 to 2013

How do we know that?

There are the reports I have referenced below and I did the math!

Here's how we do the calculation...

In the pre-vaccine era ( [link removed] ) , about 500 people, mostly children, used to die in the United States each year with measles ( [link removed] ) . And now, because most people are vaccinated and protected, they don't!

So you don't actually have to do much math to know that the MMR vaccine ( [link removed] ) prevents at least 500 measles deaths ( [link removed] ) each year in the United States!

And if you don't believe that will happen today if we stop vaccinating and protecting our kids, just remember what happened during the measles epidemics of the early 1990s ( [link removed] ) .

After a drop in measles vaccination rates, there were 55,622 cases of measles and 123 deaths in the United States between 1989 and 1991, a time when we had good nutrition, hygiene, sanitation ( [link removed] ) , and health care…

[link removed] It is easy to understand the benefits of the MMR vaccine when you look at all of the measles deaths ( [link removed] ) in the pre-vaccine era.

Few people really doubt that the MMR vaccine ( [link removed] ) works though.

Propaganda About Measles Deaths

So why are we now seeing anti-vaccine folks trying to downplay the risks of measles ( [link removed] ) and the benefits of the MMR vaccine?

It's all triggered by the tragic death of an unvaccinated child ( [link removed] ) in Canada.

[link removed] It is easy to understand the benefits of the MMR vaccine when you look at what happens when vaccination rates drop.

Anti-vaccine folks only want you to be scared ( [link removed] ) about vaccine side effects, not the risks of getting a vaccine preventable disease ( [link removed] ) .

More on MMR Vaccine Benefits

* Why Are You Still Worried About the MMR Vaccine? ( [link removed] )

* Fact Checking the Idea That Measles Was Never a Scary Disease ( [link removed] )

* Why Are You Still Worried About the MMR Vaccine? ( [link removed] )

* But Did Anyone Die? ( [link removed] )

* How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Hurts Autistic Families ( [link removed] )

* Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine ( [link removed] )

* The benefits of the measles vaccine go beyond just protecting against measles, 2019 edition ( [link removed] )

MMWR - Progress Toward Measles Elimination — Worldwide, 2000–2022 ( [link removed] )

* Reported Cases and Deaths from Vaccine Preventable Diseases, United States ( [link removed] )

* Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years ( [link removed] )

* Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization ( [link removed](24)00850-X/fulltext )

* The impact of measles immunization campaigns in India using a nationally representative sample of 27,000 child deaths ( [link removed] )

* Health impact of measles vaccination in the United States ( [link removed] )

* The positive effects of the measles vaccine on long-term labor market outcomes ( [link removed] )

* Immunisation Saved At Least 154 Million Lives Over Past 50 Years ( [link removed] )

--


Manage Subscriptions
[link removed]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]