A Chart That Shows the Pertussis Vaccine Works

Have you seen mortality charts trying to show that the pertussis vaccines don’t work?

The idea pushed by anti-vaccine influencers is that by the time a vaccine was introduced, the death rate had already fallen so much, a vaccine wasn’t needed.

A Chart That Shows the Pertussis Vaccine Works

Of course, that isn’t true and as we have shown, time and time again, their mortality charts are pure propaganda.

Now, it is not that child mortality rates had not fallen in the early part of the 20th century from improved hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, and medical care! It is just that it is important to know that the improvement eventually stalled and a lot of kids were still dying with now vaccine-preventable diseases in the 1940s and 1950s, something you can’t see in their charts.

Let’s look at what really happened when we started to use the pertussis vaccines.

It is easy to see (sticking with UK data) that when the original DPT vaccine was introduced, cases of pertussis quickly dropped.

And what happened to pertussis deaths?

Not surprisingly, pertussis deaths went down too once we started vaccinating kids against pertussis!

“Following public controversy about pertussis vaccine reactions, immunization levels dropped dramatically from 77% in 1974 to 30% in 1978. In 1977, reports of pertussis began to increase, culminating in a large outbreak during 1978-1979, the largest since the 1950s.”

Pertussis — England and Wales

And tragically, they went back up when we don’t…

Mostly, just know that all of these charts show that the pertussis vaccines work.

Of course, they aren’t perfect.

We still have pertussis after all.

But it is important to note that most of the serious cases of pertussis and the deaths are in those who aren’t vaccinated and protected.

More on Pertussis Vaccines Work

• A Chart That Shows the Diphtheria Vaccine Works
• What to Do If Your Child Is Exposed to Pertussis
• How Does a Mother’s Tdap Shot Protect a Newborn Baby?
• Do More Vaccinated or Unvaccinated Kids Get Pertussis?
• The First Five Errors in Turtles All The Way Down
• The First Five Errors in Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphries
• Pertussis — England and Wales. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 31, no. 47, December 3, 1982
• Vaccination and the Control of Seven Infectious Diseases in the US (1900-1970)
• DTaP vaccine isn’t associated with sudden infant death syndrome, whooping cough vaccine led to historic decline in cases
• The intellectual dishonesty of the “vaccines didn’t save us” gambit

Last Updated on August 5, 2024