ABSTRACT
Immunization is the most effective public health tool used to control infectious disease. Moreover, it is extremely cost effective given that treatment o f disease is far more expensive than disease prevention. The cost o f vaccines and their administration from birth to age 16 is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control (C D C ) to be U S$500. Each U S$1 spent on vaccination saves U S$16 in avoiding costly drug therapies and hospitalizations1 ultimately saving ca. U S$8,000 per vaccinated individual. Further, phenomena such as herd immunity can provide protection to a community when only a minority o f the total population has been vaccinated. Ideally, vaccination leads to the total eradication o f an infectious agent that has no alternative hosts or environmental reservoirs, e.g., smallpox and soon for polio.2
