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How to Analyze Vaccination Statistics

Vaccination has come under tremendous scrutiny as of late, with some individuals and health care organizations blaming them for causing conditions such as autism. Another camp disagrees and promotes vaccination as an essential measure for good health. Warring words make it difficult to obtain the truth about vaccination. It can be done, however, if you rely on neutral, scientifically based resources that give you straightforward statistics.

Things You'll Need

  • WHO statistical information on vaccination
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Instructions

  1. How to Interpret Vaccination Statistics

    • 1

      Know that most vaccination information is gleaned from randomized surveys. That is, telephone interviewers will randomly dial a household and ask the head of the household whether his children have been vaccinated for various diseases. Since these interviewers can't possibly contact everyone in a given region, the amount of people listed as "population" in vaccination statistics is always a sample population.

    • 2

      Use a neutral source when searching for vaccination statistics. Vaccination is a controversial issue because some people believe vaccines cause illnesses. If you are looking for international vaccination statistics, visit the World Health Organization (WHO) website. The WHO researches and collects data on international vaccinations each year. Furthermore, the WHO gleans its data from official reports from member countries of the WHO.

    • 3

      Know that international vaccination statistics follow a distinct form. For instance, the WHO culls its data from a sample population of thousands of people for each country in its reports. For instance, in Africa, the WHO used a sample population of 792,378 in 2007. From that population, the WHO learned that 5,157 people contracted tetanus even though 86 percent received DPT1, the tetanus vaccine.

    • 4

      If you are looking for the vaccination statistics for your state, go to your state's department of health website. State vaccination statistics are based on county surveys. Like the WHO, each state lists its vaccination statistics as a percentage. However, most states survey the vaccinations of children two years and younger--not teenagers and adults.

    • 5

      Each state uses its survey data to ascertain whether enough children are getting vaccinated for only the most major vaccines. These vaccines are known as the 4:3:1:3:3:1 series. This series includes vaccines for measles, polio, mumps, rabies, rubella, pertussis, tetanus, diptheria, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the Haemophilus Influenzae Type B.

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