WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Emergency vaccination programs carried out during disease outbreaks have helped reduce deaths by around 60 percent over the past 23 years, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health.
The study, supported by the Gavi vaccine alliance, was done in partnership with researchers from the Burnet Institute in Australia. It's the first major research to look at how emergency vaccinations have improved global health and safety.
'For the first time, we are able to comprehensively quantify the benefit, in human and economic terms, of deploying vaccines against outbreaks of some of the deadliest infectious diseases,' Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement.
'This study demonstrates clearly the power of vaccines as a cost-effective countermeasure to the increasing risk the world faces from outbreaks.'
The researchers focused on five serious diseases: Ebola, measles, cholera, yellow fever, and meningitis. They studied 210 outbreaks between 2000 and 2023 across 49 countries.
The results show that quick vaccine campaigns made a big difference. They not only cut deaths by nearly 60 percent but also reduced the number of cases by the same amount. In many cases, they stopped the diseases from spreading even further.
The economic impact was also large, as the study estimates that about $32 billion was saved, mostly by preventing deaths and long-term illness. For example, vaccines helped cut yellow fever deaths by 99 percent and Ebola deaths by 76 percent.
Researchers believe the true savings could be even greater. The study didn't count the extra costs of handling a bigger outbreak or the economic damage a major health crisis can cause.
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