Excerpt: “The introduction of routine childhood immunization in the 20th century is heralded as one of the greatest success stories in public health. Few other measures have been as impactful and cost effective in controlling and preventing disease, improving health and quality of life, and extending lifespan. A 2024 study published in The Lancet estimated that vaccines have saved 154 million lives globally since 1974, comparable to a rate of six lives every minute. Of those saved lives, 95 percent were children younger than 5 years old…. Despite the tremendous successes of these vaccines—which required years of rigorous testing, an intensive approval process before use, and are subject to ongoing safety monitoring—many Americans now express concerns about vaccine safety, fueled increasingly by misinformation circulating on social media and the false claims of public figures. This skepticism is fueling decreased vaccine uptake, setting the stage for more outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease.” (footnotes omitted)