Have you ever heard of smallpox? It’s a dangerous disease that once killed millions of children and left many others scarred for life. Thanks to the first vaccine ever developed, smallpox is now gone from our planet! Scientists have developed vaccines against many other infectious diseases, including COVID-19. As a result of routine vaccination programs for children, most of us are now protected from dangerous diseases, such as measles and rubella. Even better, when enough people in the population have immunity against a disease, the rest of the population is also protected. This is called herd immunity.
Organizations like the World Health Organization and Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) support vaccination activities in countries around the world. With their support, during the last decades immunization in many countries has expanded. But how many lives have vaccination programs saved? Will they continue to save lives in the years to come? This is what we wanted to find out.