Champagne Joshi

PEDIATRICS December 2000, Vol. 106, No. 6

Annual Summary of Vital Statistics:
Trends in the Health of Americans During the 20th Century

Next time someone tells you 💉’s are the world’s savior, responsible for saving countless lives, show them this. 

Straight from Pediatrics. 

There are 3 instances where they specifically and pointedly state that childhood mortality declines aren’t because of 💉’s. 

“For children older than 1 year of age, the overall decline in mortality experienced during the 20th century has been spectacular (Fig 8). In 1900 >3 in 100 children died between their first and 20th birthday; today, <2 in 1000 die.”

“Nearly 85% of this decline took place before World War II, a period when few antibiotics or modern vaccines and medications were available.”

“Vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis became available during the late 1920s but only widely used in routine pediatric practice after World War II. Thus vaccination does not account for the impressive declines in mortality seen in the first half of the century.” 

“Between 1900 and 1998, the death rate from the major infectious diseases declined 99.7%, from 466 to 0.7 deaths per 100 000 (Fig 9). The percentage of child deaths attributable to infectious diseases declined from 61.6% to 2%. This decline incorporates the emergence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS which in 1998 accounted for <0.3% of child deaths.”

“Once again, nearly 90% of the decline in infectious disease mortality among US children occurred before 1940, When few antibiotics or vaccines were avallable.”

Hygiene practices, clean water and better living/working conditions are the primary reasons for this rapid decline.

Not products. 

Here is the full article referenced:

https://annas-archive.se/scidb/10.1542/peds.106.6.1307