Properly vaccinating all children born in the United States would prevent more than 14 million cases of disease during their lifetime and 33,500 deaths.68
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) says every dollar spent on a childhood vaccination saves $6.30 in direct medical costs. Adding in the costs of lost work time, disability, and death brings the return on investment to $18.40 for every dollar spent.69
Texas needs a strong public and private immunization infrastructure for all Texans from infancy until well past 65 years. We must make substantial progress over the next decade to meet national vaccination targets.
With legislation passed in 2011, Texas is set to lead the nation in ensuring health care workers are properly vaccinated and do not spread preventable diseases to patients.
Texans depend on their physicians and their medical home to stay up to date on their vaccinations. But Texans are mobile and their insurance coverage changes, so we need a statewide immunization registry with information on vaccinations of all Texans.
With more than one in four Texans uninsured, Texas needs a strong local and state public health system to complement the vaccinations that physicians and other health care workers provide.
Total Projected Obesity Costs to Texas Businesses, 2009-30 (in billions) 78
Savings From Every $1 Spent on a Vaccine70
Disease
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis Measles, mumps, rubella Perinatal hepatitis B Polio
Haemophilus influenzae B Chickenpox
Savings $27.00 $26.00 $14.70 $5.45 $5.40 $5.40
$35 $30 $25 $20 $15 $10 $5 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
$32.5 $9.5 November 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 67
Older adults are especially vulnerable to infectious disease; thus, the state must continue to promote immunizations such as pneumococcal vaccine for these individuals. The Texas Department of State Health Services has identified bacterial pneumonia as one of the top three potentially preventable hospitalizations in Texas. Combined efforts of physicians, providers, government officials, and community organizations have been shown effective in reducing the number of potentially preventable hospitalizations due to infectious diseases. These efforts should be enhanced. (See Section 3 for more details.)
Invest in obesity control
Overweight and obesity contribute to diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Texas has an easy-to-see obesity crisis. Some 66 percent of Texas adults are obese; the United States average is 63 percent. During the past three decades, obesity rates in children have more than tripled in the country. Today, 32 percent of Texas children (ages 10–17) are obese.71
The obesity epidemic, and the ever-younger age groups that it strikes, threatens Texas’ physical and fiscal health. Texas’ continually expanding waistline
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