Less than one hundred years ago, one out of every 10 babies born in the United States died before its first birthday. Major advances in hygiene, and development of vaccines led to giant strides being taken in the prevention of disease. Doctors have always intuitively understood the value of disease prevention. When faced with the hard and often unsuccessful task of treating advanced stages of disease, the benefits of incorporating prevention into medical practice have become apparent.

One of the most obvious ways to prevent disease especially among children is through routine childhood immunizations. As a result of widespread vaccination among children over the past several decades, a number of diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome have become remarkably less common. Several other diseases such as infection by Hemophilus influenzae type B have been shown to cause meningitis, pneumonia...