Vaccines have saved millions of lives, right? Wrong…

Take a look at these mortality rate figures from the United States government that can be found on the CDC website. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/vsrates1940_60.pdf

From 1900 to 1960, the mortality rate of measles declined by over 98%. Here’s the problem for the Pro-Vaccine Crowd, the measles vaccine was not released until 1963, and not largely adopted until 1967. How could the measles vaccine have contributed to this decline in mortality? The answer is – it didn’t.

From 1900 to 1926, the mortality rate of diphtheria declined by 81%. The diphtheria vaccine was first released in 1926 and not largely adopted. By 1949, the mortality rate had declined by 98%. Similar mortality rate declines can be seen for both pertussis and tetanus. The DPT vaccine was released in 1949, AFTER the 98% decline in mortality rate. So, how many lives have been saved by the DPT vaccine? Certainly not millions…

Interestingly, the mortality rate for many different diseases also declined during the 1900s.

Are you getting the picture? There is no vaccine for the above conditions, and yet their mortality rates plummeted around the same time as measles and diphtheria. In every case, whether it’s measles, diphtheria, polio, or pertussis, the vaccines were released AFTER significant declines in mortality. The vaccines had nothing to do with it.

So if it wasn’t the vaccines, then what was responsible for this improvement in mortality? Certainly, advancements in surgical techniques and medicine in general helped. But, in my opinion, a few particular factors were involved.

and

The last two in particular (Ford Model T and indoor plumbing) significantly diminished the fecal-oral route, perhaps the most significant mode of transmission for many infections and diseases.