Industrial Immunity
Vaccines keep manufacturing workers healthy and on the job. The NAM's new report lays out the economics of prevention - and the science-based policy agenda that strengthens the workforce powering the American economy.
Health Care · New Report
A vaccinated workforce is a productive workforce
More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs are unfilled today — a number projected to reach 1.9 million by 2033. Making America the best place in the world to make things takes a healthy, productive workforce, and vaccines are among America’s most significant innovations and strongest preventative health measures. The NAM’s new report, Industrial Immunity: Inoculating the Manufacturing Economy, lays out the economics — and the policy agenda that keeps workers healthy and on the job.
Read the ReportSources: CDC Foundation (2015), adjusted for inflation using the BLS Consumer Price Index; NAM analysis of CDC, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data; Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute (2024); NAM Q2 2026 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey.
The Economics of Prevention
When workers are healthy, production lines run
Vaccines deliver measurable economic benefits that extend far beyond reducing medical expenses. When manufacturing workers are sick, delays spread, supply chains strain and the impacts are felt well outside the shop floor. The report quantifies six ways prevention pays.
Absenteeism
Missed shifts are the most direct cost of worker illness — and manufacturing already experiences higher illness-related lost worktime than the rest of the private sector. 55% of managers say replacing an absent worker’s productivity is difficult or impossible; specialized absences can shut down entire lines.
Presenteeism
Working while sick drives slower decisions, more errors and more accidents — a “loss spiral” that accounts for 18% to 60% of total illness-related costs and spreads exposure to other workers. It cost U.S. businesses an estimated $150 billion a year as far back as 2004.
Attrition
Hospitalization, chronic illness and death permanently erode workforce capacity. Adults with multiple chronic conditions are up to 29% less likely to be employed and miss an additional three to nine workdays each year.
Family & Caregiving
When workers’ children are sick, parents miss work to care for them: 50–75% of employed caregivers miss one to two days per household case of influenza-like illness. Declining MMR coverage alone costs manufacturers roughly $275 million a year in caregiving absenteeism.
Health Benefit Costs
Vaccine-preventable diseases impose more than $12.5 billion in economic costs a year in today’s dollars — nearly $7.1 billion of it attributable to the unvaccinated. Higher vaccination rates help moderate employer-sponsored insurance expenses and limit unexpected claims.
Herd Immunity on the Shop Floor
Shop floor workers operate in close proximity. High vaccination rates build community immunity that keeps infection from spreading — and keeps production lines running, supply chains operating efficiently and the economy growing.
The Proof
Decades of results, trillions in value
Among the roughly 117 million children born in the United States between 1994 and 2023, routine childhood vaccinations delivered an estimated $540 billion in direct savings and $2.7 trillion in societal savings — plus about $42 billion in fiscal benefits to the federal government from a single birth-year cohort.
“A vaccinated workforce is a productive workforce and the foundation for a strong American economy. When workers are healthy, production lines run, supply chains operate efficiently and the economy grows.” — NAM, Industrial Immunity: Inoculating the Manufacturing Economy (June 2026)
Sources: CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2024); PLOS Global Public Health (2023); NAM, Industrial Immunity: Inoculating the Manufacturing Economy (June 2026).
The Agenda
A policy agenda grounded in certainty and consistency
Manufacturers support policy decisions grounded in Gold Standard Science — giving Americans a stable framework for confident health care decisions, giving vaccine makers the regulatory predictability required to invest in innovation and keeping the workforce healthy, productive and competitive on the global stage.
Supporting R&D and Innovation
America’s manufacturers are at the forefront of the science and technology that underpin a healthy workforce. A predictable vaccine environment keeps that innovation in the U.S.
- Safeguard the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program so biopharmaceutical manufacturers have the certainty to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines at scale.
- Ground FDA vaccine policy in sound data and Gold Standard Science that foregrounds the benefits of vaccines to the American people.
- Keep ACIP childhood-schedule decisions science-based, giving parents reliable information and adhering to administrative process requirements.
- Fully resource the FDA and other public health agencies for efficient reviews and approvals of new vaccines and biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.
- Support the full R&D life cycle — foundational public health research, early-stage tech transfer, pro-innovation tax and regulatory policy and strong intellectual property rights.
Increasing Vaccination Rates
Hesitancy, misinformation and access barriers translate directly into economic costs for manufacturers. Rebuilding trust and access is a public health imperative — and an economic one.
- Communicate clearly that vaccines are safe and effective, with federal leaders countering misinformation and grounding every policy decision in clearly communicated Gold Standard Science.
- Strengthen vaccine supply chains — access to needed inputs, robust American infrastructure, pro-growth tax and regulatory policy and the certainty required for long-term investment and production.
- Reduce access barriers so people who want vaccines can receive and afford them, including public and private insurance coverage to the greatest extent possible.
- Help manufacturers offer affordable health benefits — expanding Health Savings Accounts, increasing access to telehealth, encouraging Individual Coverage HRAs and improving data transparency.
Inoculating the manufacturing economy
The evidence is clear: manufacturers and their workers benefit when strong, science-based public health policy results in more workers filling more shifts at more factories across the country. Read the NAM’s full analysis and policy recommendations.
