Before widespread vaccines, disease killed nearly half of U.S. children under 5

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” –  Philosopher and essayist George Santayana 

This could soon be our reality, as it seems we’ve forgotten how far we’ve come in preventing serious diseases and saving lives. 

Over 46% of children born in the 1800s did not make it to their fifth birthday.

Today, this number has dropped drastically, reaching its lowest point ever in 2020 where it is just seven deaths per thousand births.

Most of these deaths in the 1800s were from infectious diseases, which have also significantly declined over the last century. 

This is in large part thanks to vaccination and antibiotics created by medical science. In fact, vaccines have saved 154 million lives, including 146 million among children younger than 5 years old. Of those, 101 million were infants younger than 1 year old.

Dr. Leslie Treece is a practicing pediatrician in Cookeville, Tennessee with 25 years of experience in pediatric medicine. She also serves as the vice chair at Tennessee Medical Association Board of Trustees.