Over a million children saved by childhood vaccinations over three decades in the U.S.

Child receiving vaccination
Photo courtesy DOH

1,129,000. That’s the estimated number of children’s lives saved by childhood vaccinations in the U.S. over the past three decades. 

But the full story isn’t just in what did happen; it’s in what didn’t. Measles outbreaks that never swept through kindergarten classrooms. Respirators never turned on for infants with whooping cough. 

Wheelchairs never needed for children paralyzed by polio. Just life, uninterrupted.

5 year old Elaine Burns, crippled by
polio, wears leg braces and walks 
using crutches in 1957.

Vaccines have quietly rewritten the story of human health, allowing children to grow up healthier than any generation before them. But because these vaccine victories are largely invisible, we don’t always give them the credit they deserve. 

Despite decades of research and real-world results, doubts about vaccines have become more common, but not because the science has changed. 

It’s the social context that has changed as anxieties have been stoked and collective memory of these terrible diseases has faded. In the absence of visible threats, it’s easy to underestimate what we stand to lose.

To understand what’s at stake when doubt and misinformation dominate, let’s take a look at how the MMR childhood vaccine has radically changed our lives.

MMR (measles, mumps and rubella): the vaccine that changed childhood

Travel back to 1962, the year before the measles vaccine made its debut. Measles—arguably the most contagious disease on Earth— was rampant, just as it had been throughout human history. Nearly every child caught it, and though many recovered, far too many ended up in hospitals with complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, or worse.

For some, the effects weren’t dramatic at first but threw curveballs later. People noticed that after a measles infection, they had a harder time fighting off other illnesses, even ones they’ve had before or been vaccinated against. We now call this phenomenon “measles amnesia.” 

In rare cases, measles lay dormant in the body and caused sudden illness or death up to a decade after infection. For all these reasons, developing a measles vaccine was a societal priority.

Then came the measles vaccine, turning an almost inevitable illness into a preventable one. By 1971, the MMR vaccine offered protection against two additional diseases: mumps and rubella. MMR is so effective that two doses prevent 97% of infections, and for most people, protection stretches across a lifetime. By 2000, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S., a major public health milestone.

But recent headlines tell a different story. As of late early December 2025, the U.S. has reported over 1,800 cases, more than in any single year since the early 1990s. What’s behind the surge? Across the country and around the world, fewer people are getting vaccinated due to distrust, misinformation, and access barriers.

Here in King County, relatively strong vaccination rates overall have staved off outbreaks, but some communities have lower coverage. Every case carries the potential to spark a wider outbreak. Measles is knocking at our door and looking to exploit any vulnerability, but we don’t have to let it in.

--King County Public Health