Here in the United States and in every place around the world, vaccines are so important. Vaccines not only prevent illness – they save lives. In fact, thanks to the fact that more than ninety three percent of all children that are between the ages of nineteen and thirty five months have received the polio vaccine, polio has been all but eradicated here in the United States, even though it still remains a problem in other parts of the world. In total, vaccines are able to prevent as many as two and a half million deaths from occurring all throughout the world when they are properly administered and have lowered the mortality rates – particularly the mortality rates in children – but quite a bit.