Benefits of Universal Vaccine Policies

Improved Access:

Making vaccines available to all, regardless of economic status, affords access to improve healthcare and better outcomes for both individuals and their communities.

Lower Cost:

States that serve as the single purchaser of vaccines for publicly and privately insured children receive more favorable pricing. Savings by vaccine range from 15 to 60 percent below private purchase alternatives.

Provider Benefits:

Health care providers can continue to administer childhood vaccines to their patients, worry-free and free of charge. In addition, they avoid the financial and staffing burden required to purchase vaccines privately and segregate vaccine inventories for privately and publicly insured children

Immunization Benefits:

Next to clean drinking water and good nutrition, vaccines have saved more lives than any other public-health intervention in modern history. In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that vaccinating every child born in the U.S. from birth to adolescence would prevent 14 million infections, spare 33,000 lives, and save $10 billion in medical costs. (Source; “How Safe Are Vaccines?” by Alice Park, Time Magazine, May 21, 2008.)