Ask Us Anything

For children born between1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1.129 million deaths.

• Since 2019, 77% of counties and jurisdictions in the U.S. have reported notable declines in childhood vaccination rates. Overall coverage among kindergarteners in 2024-2025 decreased for all reported vaccines.
• In 2024, the CDC found that “the majority (76.6%) of parents/guardians somewhat or strongly agreed that school and daycare vaccination requirements are important and necessary.”
• A 2023 Vanderbilt survey found that the majority of Tennessee parents trust their children’s healthcare provider the most for vaccine information.
• “In my 30-year pediatric career, I remember two events where I thought a baby was going to die in my arms. Both of those were caused by now immunization preventable diseases, pertussis and RSV. I NEVER want to be in that situation again but fear it may happen if we allow confidence in the safety and effectiveness of our vaccination program to be undermined.” Dr. Robert Lillard, Pediatrician and Medical Director of Cumberland Pediatric Foundation
• The Tennessee Department of Health's annual Kindergarten Survey in 2025 shows continued decline in immunization rates in Tennessee, but they still remain above percent.

• For every $1 spent on childhood vaccinations, the United States saves $10.90. CDC estimates that the vaccination of children born between 1994 and 2018 has saved the U.S. nearly $406 billion in direct medical costs and $1.88 trillion in total society costs.

• High vaccination rates reduce opportunities for disease spread in the community while protecting unvaccinated individuals, vulnerable infants, and people with weakened immune systems.
• Due to the high transmissibility of measles, the vaccination coverage rate needs to be at least 92 percent to 94 percent of the population in order to prevent widespread disease, any lower will result in many more cases.
• The number of cases of vaccine-preventable diseases have decreased by about 96 percent to 100 percent since the introduction of vaccinations, depending on the disease.

• A viral respiratory illness that causes fever, cough, runny nose, aches, and fatigue. Common complications include sinus infections, ear infections, and pneumonia. From 2010 to 2023, an average of 30,000 people died of influenza-related complications annually in the United States, including an average of 92 children.
• During the 2024-25 flu season, 280 US children died from complications of influenza, along with 109 children who died from a rare and severe neurological flu complication called encephalitis.
• The flu vaccine is recommended seasonally for everyone 6 months and older. The flu vaccine effectiveness, typically 40 perecent to 60 percent for children, varies due to strain selection from the previous year, but it is shown to reduce severity of illness and risk of hospitalization and death.

• A highly contagious viral illness that can lead to serious complications.

9- in-10 exposed unvaccinated individuals will get measles 

1-in-5 people with measles will be hospitalized

• As of December 30, 2025,, there have been 49 outbreaks and 2065 cases (the highest number of cases since 2019), 93 percent of cases were unvaccinated .
• The MMR vaccine is recommended for everyone starting at 1 year of age. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93 percent effective in preventing infection while 2 doses is 97 percent effective.

• A respiratory bacterial illness that releases Pertussis toxins which damage the respiratory lining and can cause airways to swell. It causes a classic “whooping” cough and can cause life-threatening pauses in breathing called apnea in babies under 1 year old.
• There were 632 pertussis cases in Tennessee in 2025 compared to 389 in 2024, significantly more than the years prior. Three babies in Kentucky have died from pertussis in 2025, the last death prior to this year was in 2018,
• The DTaP vaccine is recommended starting at 2 months of age and Tdap vaccine is recommended during every pregnancy.

• In the United States, policy interventions on immunization requirements for school entry have contributed to high vaccine coverage and record or near-record lows in the levels of vaccine-preventable diseases.

In Oklahoma Counties from 1970 to 1971, the number of immunizations given increased significantly during the first fall of mandates. Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis

immunizations increased 23 percent in children under 5, and 110 percent in 5 to 14-year-olds.

In the first year, strictly enforcing states (n=6) had measles rates 50 percent lower than non-enforcers. By the second year, the measles rates in strictly enforcing states were 1/10th that of rates in other states.

• School entry mandates were associated with increased vaccination coverage in multiple income, age, and racial/ethnic groups for all routine vaccines except HPV.

Results were from a systematic review of 20 studies ranging from 1970 to 2017, most conducted in the US, and sample sizes between 583 and over 950,000.

Data included parental reports, medical records, administration data, National Immunization Surveys, school sampling, and digit dial surveys.

Studies focused on grades 5 through 9 found that vaccination mandates had a positive effect on vaccine uptake while educational mandates did not.

• In 2016, following a measles outbreak, California eliminated nonmedical exemptions resulting in a 3.3 percentage-point increase in the MMR vaccination rate, taking it above the measles herd immunity level.
• Washington State’s Senate Bill 5005, which required counseling and a doctor’s signature to obtain vaccine exemptions, increased the proportion of up-to-date students by 4 percent.

• Vaccines go through rigorous clinical trials and have ongoing surveillance through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), and V-Safe to ensure the vaccine remains safe. Any concerns will be followed up to determine if there is a link and removed from the market if necessary. 

Rotashield, a rotavirus vaccine, was removed from the market in October 1999 due to 101 confirmed and presumed cases of intussusception that were reported to VAERS.

The Medicare population was actively monitored for Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) after seasonal or H1N1 influenza vaccination from 2009-2010, which did not show a significant increased rate of GBS.

• Children are exposed to thousands of antigens daily in the environment. Today’s routine vaccinations for children under 2 years old asks “less” of the immune system than in the 1980s. Today's schedule protects against 15 diseases by targeting only 180 antigens. In the 1980s, the schedule targeted over 3000 antigens to protect against just 7 diseases.