Improving adult vaccination rates is critical to our nation’s health and economic
prosperity: Every year, our country spends $26.5 billion treating adults for diseases
that could have easily been prevented through vaccination.
Vaccines don’t just reduce the overall incidence of preventable diseases: In some
cases, they all but eradicate them. In the U.S., smallpox, diphtheria and polio
caused more than 50,000 deaths in the 20th century. In 2021, there were zero
reported cases of these diseases in the U.S., showing the power of vaccines to save
lives and reduce health care spending.