NAM Report: Falling Vaccination Rates Come with an Economic Cost

Declining vaccination rates aren’t just a public health problem—they’re becoming an economic one. A new NAM report out today, covered exclusively in POLITICO’s Prescription Pulse  (subscription), finds that vaccine-preventable diseases are costing manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity, driving up health care costs and sidelining manufacturing workers across the country.

The NAM says: NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons told POLITICO that the success of Operation Warp Speed offers a model for today’s policymakers.

• “With 95% of manufacturing workers eligible for health benefits through their employers and 70% of manufacturers reporting rising healthcare costs as a top business challenge, our industry has a direct stake in policies that keep workers healthy and healthcare affordable. Strong, stable and consistent vaccine policies are common sense — keeping workers on the job, factories running and America’s economy humming,” he said.
• “Operation Warp Speed demonstrates that President Trump values the critical role that vaccines play in protecting manufacturing workers,” Timmons continued.
• “This landmark whole-of-government and private sector partnership proves what can happen when America backs innovation, accelerates the development of safe and effective vaccines against devastating diseases and delivers them at historic speed. That same pro-worker, pro-manufacturing approach — providing certainty for vaccine makers and safeguarding workers on manufacturing shop floors across the country — should guide national vaccine policy today.”

The shop floor impact: Lower vaccination rates lead to more caregiving absences, lost production and strain on manufacturers.

• According to an NAM analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination data, Bureau of Labor Statistics employment figures and Census population data, declining measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates cost U.S. manufacturers an estimated $275 million annually in lost production as parents miss work to care for sick children.
• Meanwhile, healthy people are much more likely to be employed, and routine childhood vaccinations supports lifelong health. One study of children born in 2017 estimated approximately $41.7 billion in lifetime fiscal benefits, including $30.6 billion in averted tax revenue losses, $1.6 billion in disability savings and $910 million in reduced special education costs.
• “The evidence is clear: workers, their families and the manufacturing economy writ large are harmed by vaccine skepticism and by policies that limit vaccine innovation and production,” NAM said.
• “When workers are healthy, production lines run smoothly, supply chains operate efficiently and the economy grows… When manufacturing workers are sick, delays spread, supply chains strain and impacts are felt outside the shop floor.”

Costs for manufacturers: Manufacturers of all sizes cite health care costs as a top concern in the most recent NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey , and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases affect not only manufacturers’ shop floors but healthcare costs as well.

• While 70% of all respondents identify health care costs as a burden, increased costs disproportionately impact small and midsize manufacturers, with 74% of small (fewer than 50 employees) and 78% of medium (50 to 499 employees) companies identifying health care costs as a top concern.

The policy fixes: Policymakers can help support vaccine development and reduce vaccine hesitancy, leading to healthier manufacturing workers and a more resilient manufacturing economy, the NAM says in its report.

• Policy leaders must provide certainty to manufacturers developing and producing vaccines by adhering to Gold Standard Science and safeguarding crucial programs like the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
• Meanwhile, rising vaccine hesitancy and mistrust in scientific and government institutions also pose threats to Americans’ health and economic security. Policymakers must reinforce the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in their communications, while ensuring easy access to these lifesaving measures and support for employers’ healthcare offerings.

The last word: “Both to protect individual families and to ensure that vaccine rates reach the level necessary for societal herd immunity, the vast majority of Americans need to understand why prevention measures are important,” NAM report emphasizes.

• “Robust vaccine uptake benefits American families, manufacturers across the country and the federal government itself, in the form of increased tax revenue and reduced healthcare spending.”
• “Overall, ensuring a strong policy environment for vaccine innovation and ensuring that the scientific and public health benefits of vaccines are communicated to the American people will be critical for the U.S. to maintain its position as a manufacturing powerhouse.”