In a new op-ed in The Ripon Forum, Director of Health Care Policy Michael Baker explains how U.S. leadership in vaccine development has dramatically reduced disease burden and bolstered economic productivity by supporting a healthier, more capable workforce, while emphasizing the need for vaccine confidence to be restored.

An excerpt:

Reductions in morbidity should be enough to demonstrate that vaccinations make the United States healthier, but their value is not limited to making Americans less likely to get sick. Both childhood and adult vaccinations create high resultant returns on investment. Vaccines significantly reduce direct health care expenditures by preventing diseases before they occur. This preventive approach is much more cost-effective than treatment-based strategies.

Read the analysis.