“Off by 99.9%”: Aaron Siri on the ‘Millions Saved’ Vaccine Myth

Donate: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/slobodnipoI Did vaccines really “save millions of lives”? In this highlight, Aaron Siri argues that the popular claim (at least in the U.S. context) doesn’t match historical mortality data. He says that for many diseases, death rates were already dropping sharply before vaccines existed, and that after vaccines were introduced, the decline often continued at a similar pace — meaning public health messaging may over-attribute the entire improvement to vaccination while downplaying other factors like sanitation, living conditions, and medical care. Siri points to specific examples: Measles: he claims U.S. measles mortality fell by over 98% from 1900 to 1963 (before the first vaccine). Polio: he argues that after the vaccine was introduced, diagnostic criteria changed, which can reduce case counts on paper—plus later re-analyses suggested fewer cases would have met the stricter definition even before 1955. This clip is about how narratives are built from numbers—and why definitions, baselines, and attribution matter. Full epizode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTy3oXCzHShsVuJ-zfiGnx96nuR-BNWB WEB: https://slobodnipodcast.hr/2026/01/18/aaron-siri-od-vjere-u-cjepiva-do-papira-koji-se-mora-pokazati-na-sudu/