the HIB vaccine was developed becuase it was a standard infection in the US that was killing many infants on the navajo reservation.
now to understand the context for this, you need to understand that this rez has one of the lowest living standards in the entire US and very little medical care at all. very few doctors care for everyone on the rez (it's a big one) and every kind of social ill runs rampant there.
so, instead of spending any money to actually increase the standard of living there, they (the CDC) asked the drug companies to develop a vaccine. which does protect many children from death. (and it way cheaper and easier than actually helping people on that rez)
so if you have a very poor standard of living, eat mostly gov't surplus food, formula feed, don't have running water in your house or heat in the winter, many children, poor access to medical care, live around much alcohol and drug abuse and other sick people, for sure get the HIB vaccine.
and yes, from what i have read it's one of those infections that only became deadly after the introduction of antibiotics.
bacterial menegitsis is nothing to sneeze at, it can be deadly to children. but viral is more common and easier to deal with and rarely fatal. (my stepdaughter had it)
we refused HIB becuase we don't have any risk factors for it.
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