Vaccine expansion in world’s poorest countries could avert 6.4 million deaths

Economic value from saving 6.4 million lives estimated at $151 billion to $231 billion By scaling up childhood vaccinations in 72 of the world’s poorest countries, an estimated 6.4 million deaths could be averted between 2011 and 2020, with a corresponding economic value of between $151 billion and $231 billion, according to two new studies by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health investigators published in the June issue of Health Affairs. The new studies link the health benefits from projected increases in childhood immunization rates to both short-term and long-term productivity gains, and consider the value of the lives of those at risk. International donors will be meeting in London next week to pledge funding for the GAVI Alliance, an international partnership that finances vaccines for children in these countries and which faces a shortfall of approximately $3.7 billion. “Together these two studies demonstrate the wider economic benefits that can be achieved...