Emergency vaccines slash deaths by 60%

Emergency vaccination during outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles have over the past quarter-century reduced deaths from such illnesses by nearly 60%, according to a new study. A similar number of infections are also believed to have been prevented, while billions of euros have been generated in estimated economic benefit.

The Gavi vaccine alliance, which backed the study, said it collaborated with researchers at Burnet Institute in Australia to provide the world’s first look at the historical impact of emergency immunisation efforts on public health and global health security. “For the first time, we are able to comprehensively quantify the benefit, in human and economic terms, of deploying vaccines against outbreaks of some of the deadliest infectious diseases,” Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement.

The study, published this week in the British Medical Journal Global Health, examined 210 outbreaks of five infectious diseases- cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever, in 49 lower-income countries between 2000 and 2023. Vaccine rollouts in these settings had a dramatic impact, with the study showing they reduced both the number of infections and deaths by almost 60% across five diseases.