{"id":607240,"date":"2026-09-06T01:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T01:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/607240\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T01:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T01:46:18","slug":"this-interactive-tool-visually-compares-your-vaccine-vs-disease-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/607240\/","title":{"rendered":"This Interactive Tool Visually Compares Your Vaccine vs. Disease Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in a time when mixed messages about vaccines are the norm. Often, the Trump administration says one thing, while public health officials say another, leaving at least half of Americans<\/a> in what the independent health policy organization KFF called the \u201cmalleable middle.\u201d They remain uncertain when presented with vaccine myths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To address the confusion, the free \u201cWhat\u2019s the Risk?<\/a>\u201d tool launched in early August. It allows you to visualize the vaccine risks often described as \u201crare\u201d or \u201cuncommon\u201d right alongside the risks associated with the diseases they were created to prevent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The interactive tool was designed by the University of Minnesota\u2019s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy<\/a> and Unbiased Science<\/a>, a public health communication platform and podcast founded by Jessica Steier<\/a>, a public health scientist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More comparisons will be added over time, but right now, you can see the measles and the MMR vaccine and RSV alongside its vaccines and antibody products. Plus, you can compare them to life events, such as deaths caused by drowning, car crashes, falls, bee or wasp stings and lightning strikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to use the vaccine risk tool<\/p>\n

First, choose one of the suggested comparisons or build your own by selecting two from the dropdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheLife events like drowning and car crashes help put certain risks in perspective.Unbiased Science\/CNET Screenshot<\/p>\n

But before you scroll down to see the comparison, Steier told CNET in an email that you should read the \u201cBefore you compare: a few things to know\u201d list at the top. It explains, for example, that what happens if you get infected versus what happens if you get vaccinated aren\u2019t equally likely. For the former, it depends on many factors, such as where you live and travel and how many people around you are vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tell you what each side of the comparison is holding constant, and that shapes how you should read everything below it,\u201d Steier said.<\/p>\n

Scroll down to view the two side-by-side light gray boxes. Each represents 100,000 people in the population indicated above the boxes in color-coded bands. Comparisons are most reliable when comparing the same population, so when two different age groups are shown, you should treat the results as a rough sense of scale rather than a precise number.<\/p>\n

\"TwoSources are shown below the squares, along with each risk and the number of those affected per 100,000 of the stated population.Unbiased Science\/CNET Screenshot<\/p>\n

Plus, these are population averages. Your personal risk will depend on your age, health status and lifestyle circumstances.<\/p>\n

All numbers are shown as an annual rate, unless labeled otherwise. Since everyday risks are usually published as lifetime figures, those had to be converted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Within the light gray boxes, you\u2019ll find colored squares representing each risk. They\u2019re sized to indicate the number of people affected by the stated complication. \u201cA very rare outcome shows up as a tiny speck and a common one as a large block,\u201d said Steier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each square has a color meant to illustrate the severity of the outcome. Red indicates serious outcomes, while dark gray indicates those considered mild or temporary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you hover over a square or tap on it, you can read the details and see links to the sources for the number shown by the square.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Above the squares, you can switch to a grid view for a different perspective. You can also zoom in to see the risks represented in a population of 50,000.<\/p>\n

\"TheWhat the grid view looks like.Unbiased Science\/CNET Screenshot<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this tool takes numbers that can be difficult to contextualize and helps you visualize them to better understand the relative frequency and severity of vaccines versus their connected diseases.<\/p>\n

How sources were chosen<\/p>\n

To narrow down the sources for this tool, two rules were applied. \u201cEvery figure has to come from a public, citable source, and every figure has to be measured the same way as the one sitting next to it,\u201d said Steier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first rule, the tool\u2019s creators went straight to the source: national surveillance systems and published studies, rather than news articles, fact sheets or advocacy pages that merely cited the original data. The tool links out to these sources, in case you\u2019d like to check their work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheWhen you hover over a risk, you can see the sources used.Unbiased Science\/CNET Screenshot<\/p>\n

The makers also matched both the vaccine and disease sides based on age group and population as closely as available data allowed. Where that match isn\u2019t exact, the tool says so.<\/p>\n

The goal<\/p>\n

A single number or statistic won\u2019t typically tell you everything you need to know when it comes to vaccine or disease risk. According to Steier, to understand a risk, you need three things: how likely the outcome is, how serious it would be if it happened, and what it compares to, including what happens if you do nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of what we\u2019re up against is numbness,\u201d said Steier. \u201cEveryone throws scary numbers around constantly, so we\u2019ve stopped registering them. \u2018One in 10,000\u2019 and \u2018one in a million\u2019 both just land as \u2018rare,\u2019 even though one is a hundred times the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hope with this tool is that users will better understand what those numbers actually mean and develop a habit of asking \u201ccompared to what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoWhile not directly comparable due to age differences, it\u2019s still eye-opening to compare vaccine complications with life events.Unbiased Science\/CNET Screenshot<\/p>\n

The tool\u2019s future<\/p>\n

In addition to working on the design and functionality, the team behind \u201cWhat\u2019s the Risk?\u201d plans to add more vaccines and diseases. Plus, everyday life events, since those help people put an unfamiliar risk on a scale they already understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe addition we\u2019re most excited about is a way to reflect vaccine coverage, because coverage is what drives how likely you are to encounter these diseases in the first place,\u201d Steier said. This could involve pulling in vaccine uptake by ZIP code so people can view their community, or a slider that lets users adjust vaccine coverage to see how disease risk changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This expansion would show that many of us live with a low risk of disease because of the number of people around us who are vaccinated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steier emphasized that the current version of the tool is merely version 1.0, so if you see anything that can be improved, you can email the team at vaccines@unbiasedscience.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Anna\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnna Gragert\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSenior Editor, Health and Home\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnna Gragert (she\/her\/hers) was previously the lifestyle editor at HelloGiggles, the deputy editor at So Yummy and the senior lifestyle editor at Hunker. Over the past 12 years, Anna has also written for the LA Times, Elle, Bust Magazine, Dazed, Apartment Therapy, Well+Good and more. At CNET, she’s a senior editor on the Healthy Home team, and her coverage includes health, wellness tech, meal kits and home and kitchen tech with a focus on the technology that aims to help us live our healthiest, happiest lives.
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