Global impact of vaccines

This animation from the British Society for Immunology summarizes the impact of vaccines on global health. It presents vaccination as one of the safest and most effective ways to protect children from serious disease.

What the video covers

• The World Health Organization estimate that vaccines save 2 to 3 million lives every year
• Why vaccines are among the most effective tools in public health
• How vaccination programs have changed child health around the world

The evidence

More recent research makes the case even stronger. A 2024 study in The Lancet, led by the WHO, estimated that vaccines have saved about 154 million lives over the 50 years since the Expanded Programme on Immunization began, most of them infants. Measles vaccination alone accounts for the largest share. Smallpox has been eradicated and polio has been pushed to the brink. These gains are fragile: when vaccination rates drop, diseases such as measles and whooping cough come back quickly.

Related reading: Vaccine Evidence: A Foundation of Safety and Efficacy, History of Vaccines and Vaccine Hesitancy.