How can the Unites States have such high infant mortality rates if we vaccinate so many of our kids?
That’s like asking why you didn’t harvest any apples when you planted so many orange trees…
Infant Mortality Rates and Vaccines
Infant mortality rates are not really linked to vaccine preventable diseases. Instead, the infant mortality rate in the United States is influenced by:
- birth defects
- premature births
- SIDS
- maternal complications of pregnancy
- injuries
And the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than some other industrialized countries not because we vaccinate more kids, but rather because we use different methods to calculate the infant mortality rate. Most other countries don’t include extremely premature babies in their infant mortality rates.
Fortunately, infant mortality rates continue to drop and recently reached their lowest level ever.
In 2016, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 5.87 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, just slightly below, but not significantly different than the rate of 5.9 in 2015. It was at 6.14 in 2010 and as high as 6.89 in 2000.
More on Infant Mortality Rates and Vaccines
- Has the United States’ Infant Mortality Rate Ranking Been Dropping as We Vaccinate More Kids?
- First Day Deaths and the Hepatitis B Vaccine
- Does Japan have the Lowest Infant Mortality Rate Following a Ban on Mandatory Vaccinations?
- How Many People Die in the USA Every Year from Being Vaccinated?
- Was SIDS Discovered Only After We Began Vaccinating Kids?
- CDC – QuickStats: Infant Mortality Rate,* by State — United States, 2016
- CDC – Mortality in the United States, 2016
- CDC – Deaths in the United States, 2010
- Infant Deaths — United States, 2000–2007
- Vaccines and infant mortality rates : A false relationship promoted by the anti-vaccine movement
- Infant mortality and vaccines
- Childhood mortality and vaccines
- Properly evaluating vaccine mortality