Are Childhood Vaccines
Safe?
The Report of the Vaccine Safety Committee
of the US
Institute of Medicine
"Adverse Events Associated with
Childhood Vaccines: Evidence bearing on Causuality"
Synopis by Jan Roberts
The Vaccine Safety Committee of the US
Institute of Medicine, consisting of 13 eminent professors, concluded
in 1994 a lengthy investigation into childhood vaccines by publishing
a two volumne report - that seemed to promptly sink into obscurity -
perhaps because it's findings were so critical. The Report could
scarcely have been more authorative. So, for the benefit of parents
here is a synopsis of some of its findings.
P16. "The evidence favors acceptance of a causual
relationship between:
- Diptheria and Tetanus vacccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome and
brachial neuritis.
- measles vaccine and anaphylaxis.
- oral polio vaccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome
- unconjugated (PRP) Hib vaccine and early-onset Hib disease in
children age 18 months or older who receive their first Hib
immunization with unconjugated (PRP) vaccine."
P.17 "The evidence establishes a causual relationship
between:
- diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and anaphylaxis
- measles vaccine and death from measles vaccine-strain viral
infection.
- measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) and thrombocyopenia and
anaphylaxis
- oral polio vaccine and poliomyelitis and death from
polio-vaccine-strain viral infection
- hepatitis B vaccine and anaphylaxis."
The Committee also concluded that in about two thirds of the
reported suspected cases(p16) " the evidence is inadequate to accept
or reject a causual relationship (p12) between
- measles vaccine and encephalopathy, subacute scheerosing
panencephalitis, residual seizure disorder, sensorineural deafness
(MMR), opic neuritis, transverse myelitis, Guillain-Barre
syndrome, thrombocytopenia, Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.
- mumps vaccine and encephalopathy, aseptic meningitis,
sensorneural deafness (MMR), insulin depdent diabetes mellitis,
sterility, thrompocytopenia, anaphylaxis
- DT/Td/T vaccine and residual seizure disorder other than
infantile spasm, demyelinating diseases of the central nervous
system, mononeuropathy, arthritis, erythema multiforme.
- Polio Vaccine (oral OPV or injected IPV) and transverse
myelitis (OPV), Guillain-Barre syndrome (IPV), death from SIDS,
- Hepatitis B vaccine and Guillaain-Barre Syndrome, demyelinting
diseases of the central nervous system, arthritis, death from
SIDS.
- H influensae type b. and Guillain-Barre syndrome, transverse
myelitis, thrombocytopenia, anaphylaxis, death from SIDS."
The Committe went on to comment on the lack of controlled studies
of adverse reactions and to say "the risk of developing these
conditions because of vaccination would seem (their emphasis)
to be low." They finally called for "increased surveillance of
reports of demyelinating disease and arthritis following hepatitis B
vaccination, better follow-up of reports of death and other serious
adverse events following vaccination, increased use of large
databases (currently used only on a small scale) to supplement
passive survelliance reporting sytems and disease registries".
As for safety: "The Commitee encountered many gaps and limitations
in knowledge bearing directly and indirectly on the safety of
vaccines. These include inadequate understanding of the biologic
mechanisms underlying adverse events following natural infection or
immunization, insufficient or inconsistent information from case
studies and case series, inadequate size or length of follow-up of
many population-based epidemiologic studies, and limited capacity of
existing surveillance systems of vaccine injuray to provide
persuasive evidence of causation.... Clearly, if resarch capacity and
accomplishment in these areas are not improved, future reviews of
vaccine safety will be similarly handicapped." p 317
They were critical of the safety criteria employed in testing all
the commen childhood vaccines.
RISK FACTORS
Even when the Committee found that there was a causual
relationship between cases of disease and vaccination, this did not
mean that the risk was necessarily high. In most cases they were low
- but the Committee totally failed to address the question of viral
contamination of vaccines - in particular the established
contamination of the polio vaccine with monkey viruses that are now
implicated in many thousands of disease cases.
The Committee's Reports on Specific
Childhood Vaccines.
Measles and Mumps Vaccines
- click here.
The others below are dealt with in the Report - and we
hope to later cover them here.
Rubella Vaccine
Pertussis Vaccine
Diptheria and Tetanus - click here.
Polio Vaccines - click here.
Hepatis B Vaccines
Flu type Vaccines
To Return to the Vaccination Home Page.