Eradication and Elimination
Elimination: Reduction to 0 (or very low target rate) of new cases in a geographical area
Requires continued measures to prevent re-establishment of disease transmission
Eradication: Complete and permanent worldwide reduction to 0 of new cases
No further control measures required.
So far, the only disease successfully eradicated by vaccines is smallpox.
Smallpox will never reoccur.
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/smallpox_graphs_h.html
Polio is currently close to eradication; if vaccine rates increase, polio, measles, rubella, and chicken pox can be eradicated.
Vaccines have significantly reduced suffering, hospitalization, and death caused by disease.
Pre-Vaccines:
~ 8,000 deaths a year from whooping cough (pertussis)
~ 4 million cases of measles in the US; 500-1,000 deaths annually
~ 1,500 deaths a year from polio
With vaccines:
~ 50 deaths a year from whooping cough
~ 122 cases of measles and no deaths (in 2011)
~ Polio is no longer a concern in the U.S.
~ Rotaviruses, influenza, chicken pox, and whooping cough have milder or absent symptoms.
“Vaccines are one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of all time, but not all diseases are completely gone, and that’s why it remains critical for parents to vaccinate their children and themselves.”
Melissa Stockwell, Professor of Pediatrics and Family Health at Columbia University
