Vaccine. 2015 May 21. pii: S0264-410X(15)00655-6. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.05.023. [Epub ahead of print]

Deaths following vaccination: What does the evidence show?

Miller ER1, Moro PL2, Cano M2, Shimabukuro T2.

Vaccines are rigorously tested and monitored and are among the safest medical products we use. Millions of vaccinations are given to children and adults in the United States each year. .......

During the US multi-state measles outbreak of 2014-2015, claims of deaths caused by measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine began circulating on the Internet, prompting responses by public health officials to address [the data ] submitted to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

We summarize epidemiologic data on deaths following vaccination, including examples where reasonable scientific evidence exists to support that vaccination caused or contributed to deaths. ...cases where a known or plausible theoretical risk of death following vaccination exists include:

• anaphylaxis,
• vaccine-strain systemic infection after administration of live vaccines to severely immunocompromised persons
• intussusception after rotavirus vaccine
• Guillain-Barré syndrome after inactivated influenza vaccine
• fall-related injuries associated with syncope after vaccination
• yellow fever vaccine-associated viscerotropic disease or associated neurologic disease,
• serious complications from smallpox vaccine including eczema vaccinatum,
• progressive vaccinia
• postvaccinal encephalitis
• myocarditis,
• dilated cardiomyopathy
• vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis from oral poliovirus vaccine.

KEYWORDS:  Adverse events; Death; Immunization; Vaccination; Vaccine safety

PMID:  26004568