There is a compassionate case for developing effective new vaccine technologies that will prevent disease.  However, vaccines value to global health goes beyond direct effects on saving lives.  According to a study by Dr. David E. Bloom and his colleagues*, the economic effects of a vaccination include that:

1. Healthy children attend school

2. Healthy workers are more productive

3. Good health promotes savings

4. Expectations about offspring’s health promotes the transition from large to small families 

Bloom and colleagues calculated that the return on investment for a comprehensive vaccination program could be in the range of 12-18%, which led analysts in The Economist magazine to conclude,  “The dispassionate economic case for vaccination…looks at least as strong as the compassionate medical one.**”

Click the icon below if you would like a copy of Dr. Bloom’s latest related article, “Accounting for the full benefits of childhood vaccination in South Africa”.  Please send it to your friends and ask them to visit the Global Vaccines web site, join the Global Vaccines cause on Facebook, and donate to our efforts to end needless, vaccine-preventable deaths.

Sources:

*           Black et al., The Lancet, Volume 361, pp 2226-34 [2003])

**         “The benefits of vaccination” The Economist, Oct 13th 2005