Biostatistics question

Question

A vaccine trial of measles vaccine was conducted in Ahmedabad. It was found that in 342 children who received the vaccine, 11 suffered from measles whereas in 256 children who were not vaccinated 32 suffered from the disease. Is the vaccine effective?

Answer 1

Hi Ditsa,

First let's look at the vaccinated children - 342 were vaccinated, with 11 becoming infected - this is about 3% infection rate. Now, for the unvaccinated - it's a 12.5% infection rate. So, being vaccinated decreased your odds of becoming infected by about 4 times.

At the face of it, the vaccine is efficacious. If it's enough? That's a tougher question to answer. If you'd like to discuss this more feel free to contact me!