Vaccination against a range of bacterial and viral diseases is an integral part of communicable disease control worldwide.  Vaccination against a specific disease not only reduces the incidence of that disease, it reduces the social and economic burden of the disease on communities.  Very high immunization coverage can lead to transmission interruption for many vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). The worldwide eradication of smallpox and the near eradication of polio from many countries provide excellent examples of the role of immunization in disease control.

More information on vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Preventable Diseases page(link is external). 

Surveillance for notifiable vaccine-preventable diseases in the US Virgin Islands currently include:

• Acute flaccid myelitis  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Anthrax  |  CDC Bioterrorism Agents General Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Coronavirus |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Diphtheria  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Haemophilus influenzae  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Hepatitis A  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Hepatitis B  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Influenza  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Measles  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Meningococcal disease  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Mumps  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Pertussis  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Poliovirus  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Rabies  |  CDC Podcasts and Presentations(link is external)
• Rubella  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Smallpox  |  CDC Bioterrorism Agents General Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Tetanus  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Tuberculosis  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Typhoid fever  |  CDC General Information(link is external)
• Varicella  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)
• Yellow fever  |  CDC Fact Sheets(link is external)

Vaccine preventable diseases requiring enhanced surveillance in the US Virgin Islands include:

• Acute flaccid myelitis
• Meningococcal disease
• Varicella