A fraudulent 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield, originally published in The Lancet, presented supposed evidence that the MMR vaccine (an immunization against measles, mumps and rubella) was linked to the onset of autism spectrum disorders.

Even though the article was fraudulent and was retracted, many parents still believe that vaccination can cause autism, and to this day, we still see anti-vaccination movements from time to time.

In this article, I try to point out 10 facts about vaccination that I’m sure most of anti-vaccination followers do not know.

For more great info, visit DataVisualised!

10-Vaccines save billions of dollars every year

9-Vaccinations save billions of lives

8-Vaccines helped reduce measles deaths globally by 82% between 1990 and 2013

7-The CDC has reported a 99% reduction in the incidence of bacterial meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae since the introduction of the vaccination against the disease in 1988

6-The supply of influenza vaccines has been significantly expanded

5-More children than ever are being reached with immunization

4-HPV vaccines are not only for girls

There are two HPV vaccines: Cervarix, for girls and women 10 to 25, and Gardasil, for females 9 to 26. But Gardasil can also be given to boys and men between ages 9 to 26, according to the CDC. Gardasil protects against types 6 and 11 of human papillomavirus, which cause about 90% of all genital warts.

3-An estimated 19.3 million children under the age of one did not receive DTP3 vaccine

Seventy percent of these children live in ten countries, and more than half of them live in WHO’s Africa and South-East Asia regions.

2-Public-private partnerships facilitate the development and introduction of vaccines

For example, a new vaccine which prevents the primary cause of epidemic meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa, meningococcal A, MenAfriVac, was introduced in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last year. At the end of 2011. Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria are vaccinating more than 22 million individuals with the vaccine which has the potential to eliminate the leading cause of meningitis epidemics in Africa.

1-Immunization provides an opportunity to deliver other life-saving measures

Immunization not only protects children from vaccine-preventable diseases. It also serves as an opportunity to deliver other life-saving measures, such as vitamin A supplements to prevent malnutrition, insecticide-treated nets for protection against malaria and deworming medicine for intestinal worms. In addition, the benefits of immunization are increasingly being extended across the life course to include adolescents and adults, providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis, and cancers that occur in adulthood.

For more great info, visit DataVisualised!