Annual Millions of Lives Preserved Through Administration of Measles Vaccinations

Annual Millions of Lives Preserved Through Administration of Measles Vaccinations

Measly Bugs and Sickly Kids Be Gone! The Life-Saving Power of Measles Vaccines

By Dr. Saloni Dattani, Researcher, Our World in Data and Dr. Fiona Spooner, Senior Data Scientist, Our World in Data

The Ugly Truth About Measles

Measles used to infect more kids than a crappy high school party driven by hormones. Before the '60s, over 90% of children caught measles and, out of those, one in four ended up in the hospital. In the good ole USA alone, the country battled over three million cases a year, causing tens of thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths every year.

The Spark that Lit a Fire: Enter, Dr. John Enders

Fast forward to 1963, and Dr. John Enders, an ace researcher, created the first effective measles vaccine. Building upon his earlier work on polio, he and his team swapped saliva and blood samples from school kids during a measles outbreak. By isolating the measles virus, they tamed the beast and named it "Edmonston"- a shout-out to the young lad who provided the sample.

But the fun didn't stop there. The next step? Forcing the virus to adapt to different environments. Weakened and attenuated, the virus no longer caused the misery it once did- allowing it to trigger immunity without igniting disease. Trials with the new vaccine saw children developing strong immunity and being protected from measles. However, it still caused fevers and rashes- for which they prescribed "measles immune globulin."

Hilleman, the Super Microbiologist, Took it to the Next Level

Maurice Hilleman stepped onto the scene in the 60s, taking the measles virus on a royal ride. Working his magic, he weakened the measles virus even further, creating a safer vaccine. Licensing it in 1968, it became the standard for measles. Three years later, he whipped up the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) combination, combining three hated diseases into one pathetic, feeble bunch.

The Drops in Cases and Deaths? Measles Vaccines Worked Like a Charm

The introduction of measles vaccines resulted in a colossal decline in cases. Analysis of over a hundred studies shows that the vaccines reduce the chances of developing measles by twenty times.

Looking at the US, you can see measles cases plummeting in the heatmap above. In the first half of the 20th century, measles rates were alarmingly high, but with the vaccines, the number of cases pretty much went poof!

Things were different in poorer countries, where measles deaths continued to be common. Misfortune cookies might have read: 'Yep, you got measles, and things ain't rosy after that.' In africa and Southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of people died from measles every year in the '80s and '90s.

The causes? In richer countries, deaths dropped before vaccines hit the scene. The reason? Improved living conditions, better nutritional health, and swanky sanitation systems. Yet, these improvements weren't effective in reducing measles cases since the virus was still up and about, taking out its aggression on the innocent and vulnerable.

Hooray for the Measles Vaccines: Savers of Millions of Lives

Measles vaccines have been a global success story. Since the '60s, they've prevented over ninety million deaths worldwide- yep, you read that right. In those countries where children face the highest risk of dying from measles due to poor health, nutrition, and terrible living conditions, the vaccines paved the way for redemption- saving millions of lives.

The World is Better, Healthier, and More Immune-tiful

Looking at the share of one-year-olds that received their first dose of the measles vaccine, we see how far the world has come. In the '80s, coverage was particularly low in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean- a stark reminder of the struggles faced in those areas.

But since then, vaccination rates have risen dramatically. Organizations such as the Expanded Programme on Immunization and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance stepped in to close the gaps and ensure vulnerable kids received life-saving vaccines. Today, over 80% of infants receive measles vaccines- a remarkable feat.

The Cold Hard Facts: Measles Vaccines are Life-Savers

What's even cooler? The measles vaccine ranks as the most life-saving childhood vaccine used today. As of 2023, researchers estimate that 94 million lives have been saved thanks to measles vaccines- that's on average, almost two million measles deaths prevented each year.

The impact has been greatest in Africa, where 29 million lives have been saved, and Southeast Asia, where 20 million lives have been saved. These regions were once plagued by measles and where the disease was the leading cause of death in children.

All Good Things Must Come to an End (...Until They Don't)

Measles once reigned supreme, infecting nearly every child and snuffing out millions of lives. Yet, today, thanks to vaccines, it's a relative nobody. The chain of transmission has broken, and measles outbreaks are rarer than ever. But! To keep it that way, high vaccination rates are essential- the best way to put an end to measles outbreaks.

Fine Print (Because Legal)

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Measles (14th ed.) Available online.
2. The CDC reports that in the years before vaccines, measles caused an estimated 3 to 4 million cases, with around 500,000 cases reported annually. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019). Measles Data and Statistics. Available online.
3. Progress Toward Measles Elimination - Worldwide, 2000-2023. Available online.
4. This doesn't include smallpox vaccines, which are no longer in use.
5. In 1949, Enders, along with Thomas Weller and Frederick Robbins, successfully grew poliovirus in human tissue cultures, which earned them the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This breakthrough enabled the production of large amounts of poliovirus without relying on live animals. It paved the way for Jonas Salk's inactivated polio vaccine and Albert Sabin's oral polio vaccine. Nobel Prize Outreach (2025) John F. Enders - Facts. Available online.
6. The 13-year-old boy from whom the measles virus was derived was named David Edmonston. Katz, S. L. (2011). The History of Measles Virus and the Development and Utilization of Measles Virus Vaccines. In S. A. Plotkin (Ed.), History of Vaccine Development (pp. 199-206). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1339-5_22
7. Katz, S. L. (2011). The History of Measles Virus and the Development and Utilization of Measles Virus Vaccines. In S. A. Plotkin (Ed.), History of Vaccine Development (pp. 199-206). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1339-5_22
8. Hilleman, M. R. (2011). The Development of Live Attenuated Mumps Virus Vaccine in Historic Perspective and Its Role in the Evolution of Combined Measles-Mumps-Rubella. In S. A. Plotkin (Ed.), History of Vaccine Development (pp. 207-218). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1339-5_23
9. Di Pietrantonj, C., Rivetti, A., Marchione, P., Debalini, M. G., & Demicheli, V. (2021). Vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2021(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004407.pub5
10. Schneider, E. B. (2023). The effect of nutritional status on historical infectious disease morbidity: Evidence from the London Foundling Hospital, 1892-1919. The History of the Family, 28(2), 198-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2021.2007499
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2024). History of measles. Available online.
12. Guerra, F. M., Bolotin, S., Lim, G., Heffernan, J., Deeks, S. L., Li, Y., & Crowcroft, N. S. (2017). The basic reproduction number (R 0 ) of measles: A systematic review. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 17(12), e420-e428. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30307-9
13. Portnoy, A., Jit, M., Ferrari, M., Hanson, M., Brenzel, L., & Verguet, S. (2019). Estimates of case-fatality ratios of measles in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and modelling analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 7(4), e472-e481. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30537-0
14. Shattock, A. J., Johnson, H. C., Sim, S. Y., Carter, A., Lambach, P., Hutubessy, R. C. W., Thompson, K. M., Badizadegan, K., Lambert, B., Ferrari, M. J., Jit, M., Fu, H., Silal, S. P., Hounsell, R. A., White, R. G., Mosser, J. F., Gaythorpe, K. A. M., Trotter, C. L., Lindstrand, A., ... Bar-Zeev, N. (2024). Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: Modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization. The Lancet, 403(10441), 2307-2316. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00850-X
15. Guerra, F. M., Bolotin, S., Lim, G., Heffernan, J., Deeks, S. L., Li, Y., & Crowcroft, N. S. (2017). The basic reproduction number (R 0 ) of measles: A systematic review. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 17(12), e420-e428. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30307-9
16. Portnoy, A., Jit, M., Ferrari, M., Hanson, M., Brenzel, L., & Verguet, S. (2019). Estimates of case-fatality ratios of measles in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and modelling analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 7(4), e472-e481. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30537-0
17. Dr. John Enders' extraordinary research work in the '60s led to the development of an effective measles vaccine that not only tamed the virus but also eliminated many medical-conditions associated with measles, contributing significantly to health-and-wellness.
18. The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, a brainchild of Maurice Hilleman in the 60s, revolutionized health-and-wellness by combining three notorious diseases into one, making it easier for children to receive protection against these conditions, thereby improving their overall health.

Read also: