Vaccination impact on childhood infectious disease
December 4, 2024
Source: Scott, D Vox.com November 26, 2024
I especially liked this chart about the implications of childhood vaccinations published by vox.com late last month. Here’s a link to the accompanying article. Childhood vaccination rates declined a small amount in children born in 2020 and 2021, raising the possibility that we will see a return of epidemics of some of these diseases.
Most of these childhood diseases are now so rare that many pediatricians and family physicians have never seen them. As a medical student and a physician, I never saw a case of measles, diphtheria, or rubella. Most physicians a generation older than me never saw a case of smallpox, which was eradicated in the US in 1949 and the world in 1977. Few took care of a case of paralytic polio. There was one case in the US in the 2002 imported from abroad; the previous imported case was in 1993.) Our kids had chickenpox when they were under 6, but our grandkids have not, nor have any of their classmates in their schools to our knowledge .
Here’s a link to a post from last month about how I was influenced by people suffering long-term complications rubella and polio.
Implications for employers:
Pediatric vaccines are one of the few medical interventions that improve individual and population health AND lower health care costs.
Pediatric infectious diseases cause a large amount of productivity loss as parents stay home to care for their sick children; vaccinations decrease time away from work.
Employers can ask their carriers for reporting on pediatric vaccination rates, and educate members that childhood vaccinations are available without cost sharing.