Research: WANG and COLLEAGUES,

Listed in Issue 222

Abstract

WANG and COLLEAGUES, (1)School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China ; Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Beijing, China; School of Medical Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia reviewed the literature about events temporarily associated with, but not caused by, vaccination from those caused by vaccination during mass immunization.

Background

It is critical to distinguish events that are temporarily associated with, but not caused by, vaccination from those caused by vaccination during mass immunization.

Methodology

The researchers performed a literature search in China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Pubmed databases. The number of coincident events was calculated based on its incidence rate and periods after receipt of a dose of hypothesized vaccine. The authors included background incidences of Guillain-Barré syndrome, anaphylaxis, seizure, sudden adult death syndrome, sudden cardiac death, spontaneous abortion, and preterm labour or delivery.

Results

In a cohort of 10 million individuals, 7.71 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome would be expected to occur within six weeks of vaccination as coincident background cases. Even for rare events, a large number of events can be expected in a short period because of the large population targeted for immunization.

Conclusion

These findings may encourage health authorities to screen the safety of vaccines against unpredictable pathogens.

References

Wang Y(1), Wu L, Yu X, Zhao F, Russell A, Song M, Wang W. The expected number of background disease events during mass immunization in China. PLoS One. 8(8):e71818. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071818. Aug 20 2013. eCollection 2013.

Comment

The politically-charged nature of alleged and apparent vaccination-induced injuries dictates a requirement for more open and generalized research enquiries establishing the safety of vaccines and their ingredients.

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