Infant Mortality Rates and Vaccines

How can the Unites States have such low infant mortality rates if we vaccinate so many of our kids?

That's like asking why you didn't harvest any apples when you planted so many orange trees...

Infant mortality rates are not really linked to vaccine preventable diseases. Instead, the infant mortality rate in the United States is influenced by: And the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than some other industrialized countries not because we vaccinate more kids, but rather because we use different methods to calculate the infant mortality rate. Most other countries don't include extremely premature babies in their infant mortality rates.
 * birth defects
 * premature births
 * SIDS
 * maternal complications of pregnancy
 * injuries

Fortunately, infant mortality rates recently reached their lowest level ever.

For more information:


 * Vaccines and infant mortality rates : A false relationship promoted by the anti-vaccine movement
 * Infant mortality and vaccines
 * Childhood mortality and vaccines