A huge study of over 25 million doses of vaccines has shown that serious allergic reactions are super-rare, and even when they do occur they’re typically easy to treat.
Published in the October, 2015 edition of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study looked at a huge database of 17,606,500 visits for a total of 25,173,965 vaccines. This is seriously Big Data, people. After all of these vaccines, only 33 cases of a severe allergic reaction occurred. Even among those 33, only one child required hospitalization, and none died.
More reassurance: there were zero serious reactions among children less than four years of age. And most of the 33 reactions (85%) occurred in children who had a history of other allergic diseases.
Despite its rarity, anaphylaxis is a potentially serious reaction. If your child experiences a widespread rash, trouble breathing, severe GI symptoms, or fainting after a vaccine, it might be an allergic reaction – a medical evaluation is needed. Most of these reactions won’t turn out to be serious or life-threatening, but they do need attention. Almost all teenagers who faint after vaccines have just fainted, and will be fine, but they need to be watched and their blood pressure checked. If further evaluation shows it’s an allergic reaction, medical therapy given quickly can help stop the reaction.
But: we need to keep these reactions in perspective. They’re really phenomenally rare. 33 out of 25 million vaccines means that your children have a higher chance of being hurt in a car accident on the way to their appointment than of having a serious allergic reaction to a vaccine. Other, non-allergic but serious reactions are really very rare, too. The internet has made otherwise well-adjusted people into parents worried stiff over vaccines. Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t live in fear and worry. Immunizations save lives, they’re safe, and they’re something you don’t need to worry about.
This blog was originally posted on The Pediatric Insider.
©2016 Roy Benaroch, MD
