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The World-Changing Impact of Vaccines

Back in 2015, Tynan DeBold and Dov Friedman created a series of graphics for the WSJ showing the impact of the introduction of vaccines in the US. Here’s the infographic for measles:

infographic showing the quick decline in the number of infected people after the introduction of the measles vaccine

And for polio:

infographic showing the quick decline in the number of infected people after the introduction of the polio vaccine

Vaccines are in the running for the greatest human invention ever. You can see the rest of the charts (for hepatitis A, mumps, pertussis, rubella, and smallpox) here.

See also The stunning success of vaccines in America, in one chart.

Discussion  4 comments

Erik Johnson

If a talented graphic designer put vaccine data into a beautiful simple graphic designed to be displayed in pediatric exam rooms lives would be saved.

Lorem Ipsum

I wonder what RFK, Jr. would say about this chart?

Reply in this thread

Broccoli of Doom

This is a great example of visual storytelling. The data is exactly the same as that in the simple bar chart in the linked Vox article, and yet significantly more compelling in this form. Love it.

Alana Cloutier

I enjoy walks in old cemeteries. Once, years ago, I took one in a pioneer era cemetery in Sacramento, and the number graves for babies and young kids was pretty shocking. It's a river city, so it's not surprising that cholera was a problem, but this looked more like measles, diphtheria, etc. pretty stark example of "vaccines save lives, yo."

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