Lately, I keep reading comments from people saying that the hepatitis b vaccine for newborns, along with the rest of the infant vaccines, is causing massive infant deaths in USA. They say that vaccines are the reason the infant mortality rate is abysmally low. They say that vaccines are murdering babies.
This is confounding when you look at the actual evidence. Infants in USA are not dying. They are living more than ever before in history. SUID and SIDS rates are both at all time lows. Look at these two graphs.
In 1935, the infant mortality rate (IMR) was 55.7 deaths per 1000 live births. In 2000, it was 6.9. In 2015, it was 5.87 deaths per 1000 live births. From 55.7 to 5.87 in less than 100 years is an astounding decrease.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the USA currently ranks 167th best, out of 224 countries, for Infant Mortality. The worst is Afghanistan at 115/1000 and the best is Monaco at 1.82/1000. But, look at the countries close to our statistics:
We are much closer to the best countries than we are to the worst. There are many countries in the same 5 range as USA. Pretty much all the countries with better IMRs have socialized medicine and far less poverty (meaning more welfare and higher taxes) than USA. Plus, there is an additional reason the USA has a higher IMR than some of the best countries: we count premature births differently and we have significant issues with regards to income and other demographics. According to Chen, Oster, and Williams, some European countries count very premature infants who then die not as infant deaths but as miscarriages. We count them as infant deaths, in USA. Also, there are dramatic differences, in USA, between socioeconomic groups. “Digging deeper into these numbers, Oster and her colleagues found that the higher U.S. mortality rates are due “entirely, or almost entirely, to high mortality among less advantaged groups.” To put it bluntly,” says the Washington Post, “babies born to poor moms in the U.S. are significantly more likely to die in their first year than babies born to wealthier moms.”
April 2017 Update: A new report shows infant mortality rate decreased 15% in the last ten years. That is astounding!
As you can see in this graph, the race difference is profound:
Now, some people opposed to vaccines like to say that SIDS is a made up diagnosis, one that did not exist before vaccines. That is because we used to call it cot death or crib death and it was poorly understood. It is clear, however, by looking at the above graphs that infant mortality is lower than ever before in USA. We may vaccinate more, we may have only recently started to vaccinate newborns, but it is indisputable that babies are dying less and less in USA. And that is wonderful news.
And, lest you still think vaccines might be associated with SIDS, read this study. Vaccines cut the risk of SIDS in half. That’s astounding!
Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon: Many countries vaccinate newborns.
Remember to think for yourself!
Kathy
vaccinesworkblog 
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Interesting. I just read the opposite.
Among 20 wealthy nations, US child mortality ranks worst, study finds
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/08/health/child-mortality-rates-by-country-study-intl/index.html
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Yes, among those 20 nations, our IMR ranks the worst. As I have stated repeatedly, and I linked to the data, the USA ranks 55th out of 225 countries. All the countries which score better than USA pay more taxes, have less poverty, have more social welfare, and have universal healthcare. When we have all of those, our IMR will be on par with their IMRs.
In the meantime, IMR in the USA decreased 15% in the last ten years.
The more we vax, the LESS babies die.
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There are reasons for that. One reason is that there are different definitions of child mortality in many countries:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db23.htm
Several other reasons were summarized in that article, like this quote:
Oh, crud I screwed up the blockquote. The part that is not supposed to be blockquoted is this:
Wait… “teens”? Are you confusing infant mortality with child mortality? This explains the article’s bit about guns (I had no idea so many newborns were being shot to death!…by the way, that was sarcasm).
But we can deal with the bit that says “concentrated among infants, from causes such as immaturity and SIDS.”
One of the things the article failed to mention is that the USA is one of the few wealthy nations without a national health care system. For instance, there is a move to remove whatever healthcare we have and even make Planned Parenthood go away. The very conservative contingent of this country want to rid this country of contraceptives, prenatal care and even well child care. That movement in Texas has resulted the highest maternal mortality in the country.
For folks who claim to be “Pro-Life”, they have a weird way of doing that when they deny women birth control, pre-natal care and even pediatric care insurance. Just look at Texas.
Also, about SIDS… read above article. Just make sure to not expose your baby to smoke of any kind, put them asleep on their backs, and to vaccinate them for pertussis:
Expert Rev Vaccines. 2005 Apr;4(2):173-84.
Acellular pertussis vaccines in Japan: past, present and future.
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Yes, but when people try to prove the impossible they use disingenuous means, such as showing how IMR have decreased in the last 60 years. Be that as it may how does one account for the USA being at rock bottom in 2018.
Yes truly one must think for themselves, although I think the author above diesn’t know what exactly that means.
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The USA’s IMR is not at rock bottom. We are 170th out of 225, with 225 being best. All the countries with better IMR have universal healthcare and far less poverty and pay more in taxes. Our IMR rate decreased 15% in last ten years.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html
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“Be that as it may, how does one account for the USA being at rock bottom in 2018.”
You forgot this: ” of developed countries.”
The biggest reason is lack of affordable health care, and old white men legislating restrictions on women’s health care. If you really cared you would donate to Planned Parenthood. For more information go to https://rewire.news/ .
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Please stop comparing SIDS with infant Mortality Rates. You practically use the terms interchangeably as you bounce back and forth. But that is not why I’m writing. I’m writing to shed some light on the “vaccines decrease SIDS by 50%” claim. Followed the link. Followed that link to the abstract of the metastudy. Followed that to some of the methodology. And wouldn’t you know it? This is not a study comparing unvaccinated with vaccinated. These studies (all lumped together in the meta-study) are simply comparing babies with less vaccines to babies with more vaccines. First- the meta study itself declares there is no biological evidence whatsoever for believing there is a causal relationship- so you should stop implying one. But second- what else changes from a baby having, say, 4 vaccines to having 8 or 12 or 16? Yeah. Baby gets older. Universally, babies with more vaccines are older than babies with less vaccines. The ONLY thing that study proves is that SIDS goes down with AGE- which we already knew.
There is a lot of junk science on both sides of this debate. I suggest you improve your radar.
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I put an AND between SIDS and infant mortality rate for a reason.
It is scientific fact that vaccinated babies die of SIDS less than unvaccinated. SIDS rate is at an all time low in USA as is infant mortality rate. These are indisputable facts.
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