There are many benefits to immunisation:
- They protect individual child against infection
- Herd (community) immunity - widespread uptake of vaccination reduces the pool of infection thus preventing infection of those who are unprotected, i.e. the very young, the immuno-compromised, pregnant women or those where the vaccination has failed to provide an adequate immune response
- The economic argument - there is the cost of caring for children as well as the cost to industry of parents taking time off to care for their children
- The eradication of disease eg polio (non-existent in the developed world although cases are still reported). Diptheria and HiB are now very rare.