On Child Vaccines, the U.S. Is Worse Than Libya and 109 Other Countries

The U.S. measles outbreak has shone a light on the growing number of parents opting not to vaccinate their children, despite overwhelming medical reasons to do so. Amid the often-vicious debate between anti-vaxxers and their critics, it's gone largely unnoticed that when it comes to vaccination rates, the U.S. is out of step with the rest of the world.

Last week, a group of donors that included the U.S., the U.K., and the Gates Foundation met in Germany to pledge $7.5 billion to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, to pay for its operations to 2020. Gavi is a global organization that buys vaccines to immunize children in low-income countries. The alliance has provided billions of dollars’ worth of new vaccines over the past decade for such conditions as haemophilus influenza and pneumococcal disease, both of which can cause pneumonia and meningitis, as well as rotavirus—the leading global cause of death due to diarrhea under age 5. Gavi support has translated into more kids being protected against catching and spreading these killer illnesses.