For most of the 20th century, more than 60,000 people died in the US from polio, diphtheria, and small pox each year. In 2016, the American death toll from these diseases was zero. Around the globe, two to three million deaths from these diseases and others, including measles, rubella, and tetanus, are prevented each year.
These remarkable statistics are a triumph of medicine and the single most effective public health measure in history: global vaccination programs.
COVID-19, after the most rapid and sustained vaccine development program in history, now looks set to be joining this list of fatal diseases that