Institute of Medicine Report on Vaccines

[Guest guest]

Report: Vaccines generally safe, some side effects

Thursday - 8/25/2011, 1:57pm ET

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Vaccines can cause certain side effects but serious ones

appear very rare _ and there's no link with autism and Type 1 diabetes, the

Institute of Medicine says in the first comprehensive safety review in 17 years.

The report released Thursday isn't aimed at nervous parents. And the side

effects it lists as proven are some that doctors long have known about, such as

fever-caused seizures and occasional brain inflammation.

Instead, the review comes at the request of the government's Vaccine Injury

Compensation Program, which as the name implies, pays damages to people who are

injured by vaccines. Federal law requires this type of independent review as

officials update side effects on that list to be sure they agree with the latest

science.

" Vaccines are important tools in preventing serious infectious disease across

the lifespan, from infancy through adulthood. All health care interventions,

however, carry the possibility of risk and vaccines are no exception, " said

pediatrician and bioethicist Dr. Ellen Clayton of Vanderbilt University,

who chaired the institute panel.

Still, the report stresses that vaccines generally are safe, and it may help

doctors address worries from a small but vocal anti-vaccine movement. Some

vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are on the rise.

" I am hopeful that it will allay some people's concerns, " Clayton said.

The review echoed numerous other scientific reports that dismiss an autism link.

But it found convincing evidence of 14 side effects:

_Fever-triggered seizures, which seldom cause long-term consequences, from the

measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine.

_MMR also can cause a rare form of brain inflammation in some people with immune

problems.

_The varicella vaccine against chickenpox sometimes triggers that viral

infection, resulting in widespread chickenpox or a painful relative called

shingles. It also occasionally can lead to pneumonia, hepatitis or meningitis.

_Six vaccines _ MMR and the chickenpox, hepatitis B, meningococcal and

tetanus-containing vaccines _ can cause severe allergic reactions known as

anaphylaxis.

_Vaccines in general sometimes trigger fainting or a type of shoulder

inflammation.

There's suggestive evidence but not proof of a few other side effects, including

anaphylaxis from the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine and short-term joint

pain in some women and children from the MMR vaccine.

On the other hand, the report cleared flu shots of blame for two long-suspected

side effects: Bell's palsy and worsening of asthma.

That doesn't mean there aren't other side effects _ the review couldn't find

enough evidence to decide about more than 100 other possibilities. Some vaccines

are just too new to link to something really rare. Another example: Flu shots

have long come with a caution about rare, paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome,

but Clayton said research hasn't settled if that's a coincidence since the

disorder is more common during the winter.

The Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the vaccine

compensation program, is reviewing the report but said it's too early to predict

if it will prompt changes to the injury list.