Even as some anxious or skeptical parents question the value of vaccines in general, there’s more evidence of the lifesaving value of some of the shots. A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that rates of Hepatitis A in the U.S. have been slashed by three-quarters since the late 1990s, thanks entirely to a new vaccine.

From 1996 to 1999, epidemiologists determined the states and communities around the country with the highest Hepatitis A rates and recommended a new, potent vaccine for all children over two years old  living there. After the vaccination program had run for just four years, a national survey found that even in states that had not received the vaccines, Hepatitis A cases had plummeted 76%. But in states where the vaccine was used, the number of cases had plummeted by 88%.

Researchers believe the results show that even children not directly immunized were nonetheless partly protected by the vaccination program: By immunizing kids in the high-risk areas, the transmission chain was disrupted, leaving fewer carriers to transmit the disease to others.

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