Unless you’re a science-denying anti-vaxxer, we all know that vaccines can prevent dangerous and deadly infectious diseases like polio, measles, chickenpox, and many others — but they can also prevent chronic diseases like cancer.

Vaccines are considered one of the greatest medical discoveries in human history. Notwithstanding Robert F Kennedy Jr’s hatred of vaccines, they have saved millions of lives over the past hundred years. And they will continue to save lives, despite RFK Jr’s efforts to eliminate them from the US healthcare system.

Although I’ve written extensively about how individual vaccines can prevent infectious diseases, I wanted to compile a concise list of several vaccines that can also help prevent chronic diseases, such as cancer, dementia, and heart disease. This is the reason why we say that vaccines save lives.

Vaccines that prevent cancer

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. I have written boatloads of articles about the HPV vaccine, and the conclusion of all of those is that the vaccine is extremely safe and effective. It is not only effective in preventing HPV infections, but it also prevents HPV-related cancers.

Genital and oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the USA.  HPV is generally transmitted from personal contact during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.

The CDC states that over 37,800 HPV-related cancers are diagnosed in the USA every year. In 2022, there were approximately 1,505,394 HPV-related cancer cases and 755,303 deaths worldwide, with cervical cancer being the primary cause, accounting for 14.1 per 100,000 people.

A recently published meta-review, which I also discussed in detail, showed that women who received the HPV vaccines were 80% less likely than their unvaccinated counterparts to develop cervical cancer. Another meta-review showed a 60% decrease in the risk of pre-cancerous cervical lesions.

Because many people think that the HPV vaccine just protects against cervical cancer, it’s important to remember that there are many other HPV-related cancers:

• Vulvar cancer
• Vaginal cancer
• Anal cancer
• Oropharyngeal cancer (throat cancer)
• Penile cancer

This is one of the greatest medical advancements in fighting cancer. It is truly an extraordinary vaccine.

Hepatitis B vaccine. This vaccine, which prevents the hepatitis B virus, reduces the risk of infection. Hepatitis B can lead to chronic inflammation of the liver. This leads to cirrhosis over a period of several years. Furthermore, this type of infection increases the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (a type of liver cancer).

A 2019 paper (reviewed here) found that the hepatitis B virus is not only linked to liver cancer, but it is also linked to several other non-hepatic malignancies, such as oropharyngeal (throat), pancreatic, stomach, lymphatic, and colorectal cancers.

Despite the recent unwarranted changes in the recommendations for the vaccine in the USA, the vaccine prevents cancer.

The shingles vaccine reduces the risk of dementia

Shingles vaccine — I’ve written several articles about the shingles vaccine being linked to a lower risk of dementia. The best and largest study showed a 20% relative reduction in risk of dementia after shingles vaccination.

Moreover, the shingles may also reduce the risk of heart attacks and death.

For most people, preventing shingles, a painful disease, is a good enough reason to get the vaccine. Reducing the risk of or delaying the onset of dementia is a huge bonus.

Flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines

Although the flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines don’t directly prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, they do protect against serious disease as well as flare-ups or worsening of existing chronic health conditions.

For example, a 2020 study found higher risks of severe flu infections among adults with chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, diabetes, and kidney disease.

A cohort study (reviewed here) of 46 million adults in England observed that the incidence of heart attacks and strokes dropped after people received COVID vaccinations.

Summary

As I wrote above, it’s a bonus that these vaccines prevent not only the targeted infectious diseases but also reduce the risk of numerous chronic diseases, such as cancer, respiratory disease, and dementia.

Kennedy is pushing his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda by trying to destroy the vaccine system of the USA. Yet, vaccines do make us healthy in so many ways.

There is little reason to skip vaccines if you actually want to prevent disease.

Citations

• Bergman H, Henschke N, Arevalo-Rodriguez I, Buckley BS, Crosbie EJ, Davies JC, Dwan K, Golder SP, Loke YK, Probyn K, Petkovic J, Villanueva G, Morrison J. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for the prevention of cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases: a network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025 Nov 24;11(11):CD015364. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD015364.pub2. PMID: 41276263; PMCID: PMC12640750.
• Eyting M, Xie M, Michalik F, Heß S, Chung S, Geldsetzer P. A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia. Nature. 2025 Apr 2. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08800-x. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40175543.
• Henschke N, Bergman H, Buckley BS, Crosbie EJ, Dwan K, Golder SP, Kyrgiou M, Loke YK, McIntosh HM, Probyn K, Villanueva G, Morrison J. Effects of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programmes on community rates of HPV-related disease and harms from vaccination. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025 Nov 24;11(11):CD015363. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD015363.pub2. PMID: 41276264; PMCID: PMC12640735.
• Ip S, North TL, Torabi F, Li Y, Abbasizanjani H, Akbari A, Horne E, Denholm R, Keene S, Denaxas S, Banerjee A, Khunti K, Sudlow C, Whiteley WN, Sterne JAC, Wood AM, Walker V; CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT Consortium; Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing COVID-19 National Core Study. Cohort study of cardiovascular safety of different COVID-19 vaccination doses among 46 million adults in England. Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 31;15(1):6085. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49634-x. PMID: 39085208; PMCID: PMC11291640.
• Lin CL, Kao JH. Hepatitis B: Immunization and Impact on Natural History and Cancer Incidence. Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2020 Jun;49(2):201-214. doi: 10.1016/j.gtc.2020.01.010. PMID: 32389359.
• Song C, Lv J, Liu Y, Chen JG, Ge Z, Zhu J, Dai J, Du LB, Yu C, Guo Y, Bian Z, Yang L, Chen Y, Chen Z, Liu J, Jiang J, Zhu L, Zhai X, Jiang Y, Ma H, Jin G, Shen H, Li L, Hu Z; China Kadoorie Biobank Collaborative Group. Associations Between Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Risk of All Cancer Types. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Jun 5;2(6):e195718. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5718. PMID: 31199446; PMCID: PMC6575146.
• Walker TA, Waite B, Thompson MG, McArthur C, Wong C, Baker MG, Wood T, Haubrock J, Roberts S, Gross DK, Huang QS, Newbern EC. Risk of Severe Influenza Among Adults With Chronic Medical Conditions. J Infect Dis. 2020 Jan 2;221(2):183-190. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiz570. PMID: 31678990.

Help the Skeptical Raptor keep writing about vaccines

There are four ways you can help contribute to keeping this website running at full speed:

1. GoFundMe.
2. Subscribing via Patreon.
3. Buying on Amazon.
4. Sharing this article on Social Media.