Vaccine Information Database
Vaccines
If you are a parent or future parent flooded with the conflicting information out there about vaccines, you can check out this collection of reliable, evidence-based resources to help you make an educated decision for your family. Whether it's common issues/worries parents face regarding vaccines, refuting misinformation, or just directing you to the proper resources, hopefully this can help you navigate fact from fiction.
Before you dive in, you may wonder how I can be "scrunchy" or "clean living" and vaccinate my kids. But the two are not mutually exclusive. I breastfed, room shared, and have been home with my babies since birth. I feed my kids organic, minimally processed foods, use non-toxic cleaning and personal care products, and treat things holistically when I can. I also follow evidence-based science and fully vaccinate our kids. You don't have to ignore modern medicine simply because you aim for a more "natural" approach to life.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor. Not a scientist. Just a mom who has done a vast amount of reading on vaccines and has organized that information for you here. Please talk with your pediatrician about your vaccine choices.
Overall info/resources: comprehensive, all-encompassing resources for any vaccine question.
Websites:
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center
Immunization Handbook: Comparing Disease Side Effects to Vaccine Side Effects
Meta-Analysis of Vaccine Safety Studies
Vaccine FAQs
AAP Vaccine Safety Evidence
Institut Pasteur: Vaccines Explained
Vaccine Development, Testing, and Regulation
Voices for Vaccines: Made by Families for Families
Books:
Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact From Fiction (Dr. Paul Offit and Charlotte Moser)
Your Baby's Best Shot (Stacy Mintzer Herlihy and E. Allison Hagood)
Podcasts:
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
Autism/Regressions: Speech and developmental delays present most commonly around the ages of 1-2 years old. When regressions occur, some parents believe it must be vaccines when in fact they are in the age range where regressions typically occur because of synaptic pruning.
If you look up "changelings" in European folklore, parents have always told stories of their children changing "overnight". They used to blame magic. Now they blame vaccines. It's not that these parents are "wrong" about their own child, but their experiences are not the same thing as evidence that a vaccine caused them.
The association between vaccines and autism has been studied hundreds of times from countries all around the world. They have all come to the same conclusion: that there is no association between vaccines and autism.
Meta analysis, including five cohort studies and five case control studies, totaling almost 1.3 million children.
“Findings of this meta-analysis suggest that vaccinations are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the components of the vaccines (thimerosal or mercury) or multiple vaccines (MMR) are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder.”
“There was no increase in the risk of autistic disorder or other autistic-spectrum disorders among vaccinated children as compared with unvaccinated children.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
“In this large US cohort, age-anchored landmark analyses show no association between MMR vaccination before 24 months and childhood autism.”
Literature Reviews of Studies Examining Link Between Vaccines and Autism
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccines and Autism Overview
Vaxopedia Debunking Wakefield Autism Link
SIDS: Vaccines do not cause SIDS. In fact, fully vaccinated babies actually have a *lower* rate of SIDS.
SIDS cases peak between 2-4 months, so this is falsely attributed to vaccines because babies receive vaccines at 2, 4, and 6 months. When “SIDS” has been present for hundreds of years and still peaks at this age rage, even in countries that vaccinate at 1, 3, or 5 months.
“Conclusions: Immunisations are associated with a halving of the risk of SIDS. There are biological reasons why this association may be causal, but other factors, such as the healthy vaccine effect, may be important. Immunisations should be part of the SIDS prevention campaigns.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
“Conclusions: This study provides further support that immunisations may reduce the risk of SIDS.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Collection of SIDS and Vaccines Research Studies
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia SIDS and Vaccine Database
John Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety Vaccines and SIDS
Vaccine Ingredients: you often hear of "scary" ingredients in vaccines. However, it is necessary to understand their quantity and function to fully grasp the safety of these ingredients.
Ingredient Guide from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Mercury
This conflation with "mercury" and vaccines occurs often. You can watch a video explanation here.
- Mercury: Mg, elemental metal, can be toxic at low doses.
- METHYLmercury: CH2Hg*, can accumulate & be toxic at low doses.
- ETHYLmercury: DIFFERENT compound, C2H5Hg*, rapidly excreted, NOT toxic at low doses
- Thimerosal: ANOTHER compound, C9H9HgNaO2S, rapidly excreted, NOT toxic at low doses
Regardless, thimerosal hasn't been used in routine childhood vaccinations since 2001. None of the vaccines you give your baby contain mercury in any form.
Formaldehyde
Polysorbate 80
GRAS (generally regarded as safe) and the generally safe accepted daily intake is 25 mg/kg. In a 5 kg baby, that would be 225 mg DAILY.
If a vaccine contains Polysorbate 80, it is typically a concentration of 50 micrograms per dose; so the safe daily intake is 4,500 times greater than the amount in a vaccine.
For prospective, a vaccine contains about 50 micrograms of Polysorbate 80. 1/2 cup of ice cream contains 170,000 micrograms.Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Ingredients: Polysorbate 80
Global Vaccine Alliance Vaccine Ingredients Overview
Aluminum
Overall info: https://www.chop.edu/
Studies showing the safety of aluminum in vaccines:
How is aluminum processed by the body?
The distribution of aluminum via IM is quite complicated to model in terms of pharmacokinetics. At injection site, aluminum adjuvants (hydroxide and phosphate) are chemically inactive due to their very low solubility due to the body pH (7.4). They are present there as microparticles (micron-size) and slowly dissolve over time.
These microparticles will be swallowed by macrophages and dendritic cells as part of their routine work (cleanup and present stuff on their surface to immune cells) and will eventually migrate into lymph nodes nearby. These will act as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) which is key event in the immune response.
Aluminum salts will ultimately become solutes and circulate in the body as Al3+. Al3+ from adjuvants will add up to the Al3+ coming from our daily exposure through food and drink, but at levels below detection (there is no evidence of a spike in aluminum levels before/after vaccination).
The distribution inside the body will greatly vary between tissues and it also means their clearance will also be very different. In the case of brain, the amount entering the brain is ridiculously low (we estimate in the range of 0.01% of the amount found in blood), but will likely stay inside the brain forever (as of today, we can measure aluminum in the brains of healthy donors that died of old age).
This is not a problem for most of the population, but has been source of problem in the past in certain patients that suffered from impaired kidneys and were exposed to massive amount of it as contaminant of medical products (dialysis fluids or IV bags). Hence, we have for now 30 years guidelines on exposure (no more than 5microg/kg/day from IV fluids) and monitoring (patients on dialysis have their blood aluminum measured on routine basis).
The elimination of it is mostly via kidney route, with 95% of it eliminated via the urine (hence the patients with kidney diseases being a population at risk for aluminum overload).
Studies on the elimination of aluminum from vaccines:
Addressing Concerns of Vaccines Crossing the Blood Brain Barrier
Anatomy and Physiology of the Blood-Brain Barrier
Fetal tissue/cells
Understanding the use of fetal cells in vaccines
To clarify, cell lines from those two elective abortions in the 1960s have been replicated to produce the cells we use today. These cell lines are used to grow the virus for the vaccine and then removed, or purified, and do not appear in the final product. The only vaccines made using fetal cells include:
- Chickenpox (varicella)
- Rubella (the “R” in the MMR vaccine)
- COVID-19 (viral vector versions, such as J&J/Janssen and AstraZeneca)
- Hepatitis A
- Rabies (one version, known as Imovax®)
1. The two abortions that led to the cell lines used in vaccines occurred independently of their use in medicine. Meaning, that is the choice those mothers had made and the abortions occurred, none of which was done for *the purpose* of medicine. There is a distinct lack of moral complicity in the link here.
2. Furthermore, the cells lines we use today are replications of those original fetal cells. They are not the aborted fetuses and no abortions have to be performed to replicate the cell lines.
3. The cells are used to grow the virus for live vaccines and then removed from the final product. Vaccines do not contain any fetal cells or tissue.
4. In my talks with other moms, it has been helpful to have comparisons. We don’t avoid cotton clothing because the industry was built upon the lives of thousands of enslaved people. We don’t skip an OBGYN because the father of gynecology tested his procedures and tools on enslaved women without anesthesia. We don’t avoid treadmills because they were once used as torture devices. It’s impossible to avoid all things with origins we may disagree with, and it’s hypocritical of us to only apply that to vaccines. Many, many lifesaving medicines use or have been tested on fetal tissue, including treatments for leukemia, Parkinson's, and ALS. Disagreeing with abortion is not in conflict with utilizing these lifesaving treatments and preventions.
Inserts
Inserts are regulatory documents. They are not a list of side effects, but rather ANYTHING that has happened during a vaccine trial. If someone had a seizure because they had epilepsy, but it was during the trial, seizures will be listed in the insert. They have to be listed even if they occurred once in a million doses or weren’t actually linked to the vaccine at all.
The actual language of the section on Adverse Events states:
“The following adverse reactions include those identified during clinical trials or reported during post approval use.”
Aka, they are not side effects. These things happened after the vaccine, but were not necessarily caused by the vaccine.
Fertility and carcinogenesis
I often see the anti-vaccine talking point about "look how many kids have cancer now" or "look at section 13.1 on the inserts" but there are many flaws to this point.
Preclinical Toxicology of Vaccines
Vaccines have been tested for these things.
In fact, a 2017 study found that early childhood vaccines were associated with a lower risk of leukemia.
The section in the insert that states they’re not is referring to studies done in animals. Preclinical toxicology studies are conducted prior to the initiation of, and concurrently with, clinical studies. There are five different types of preclinical toxicology study in the evaluation of vaccine safety: single and/or repeat dose, reproductive and developmental, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and safety pharmacology.
https://www.ecfr.
Inert Placebo Trials: you often hear the rhetoric "but there were no double-blind, inert placebo trials" for vaccines as a reason for saying scientists cannot prove they are safe. This is not only untrue (as seen by some saline placebo trials below) but also minimizes the ethics and protocol involved in developing medicines.
To clarify, first generation vaccines are tested against an inert placebo. Next generation vaccines are tested against the previous generation vaccine because the whole point is to make something that works better and/or is safer than the previous generation. Basically, trial protocol is a lot more complicated than disinformation makes it out to be. Any pharmaceutical that is an updated version or for which a previous treatment already exists are also tested against the current best-available treatments, not a saline placebo each time.
Controlled Vaccine RCTs (Living List)
placebo controlled Pneumococcal trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.
placebo controlled MMR: https://www.
placebo controlled TDaP study in pregnant women: https://jamanetwork.
placebo controlled HPV trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.
placebo controlled P2-VP8 Subunit Rotavirus trial: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.
placebo controlled polio trial: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.
placebo controlled Hib trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.
*This study shows low efficacy, but eight years later we can see how that has increased: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Childhood vaccines placebo trials explained
History of Vaccines Randomized Clinical Trials
Compilation of Randomized Clinical Trials by an Infectious Disease Expert
Vaccine development
Vaccine Development and Testing
The Process of Vaccine Development
Liability:
Overall Health: a common anti-vaccine myth is that unvaccinated children are "healthier" than vaccinated children. This is a hasty generalization logical fallacy based on their own children (which, by two fully vaccinated children have never even had an ear infection, but I'm not out here saying vaccinated kids never get them).
KIGGS Study: Vaccination Status and Health in Children and Adolescents
Study compares non–vaccine-preventable illness in vaccinated, unvaccinated children
Lack of broad functional differences in immunity in fully vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children
MTHFR: In "crunchy" communities, you hear that the MTHFR gene is SO important, and those that have a variant should not vaccinate. This is untrue; MTHFR has become a scapegoat or "buzz word" in the wellness world.
MTHFR is an enzyme that helps maintain the balance of homocysteine in the body by aiding in the processing of folic acid/folate. The MTHFR gene is the gene responsible for the production of this specific enzyme. Many variations exist, and over half of all people have at least one MTHFR variant.
It is estimated that 44% of people are heterozygous (have one copy of the C677T allele (CT]) and 10% of people are homozygous (have two copies of the C677T allele (TT]). Less than 50% of people have the typical alleles (CC).
MTHFR helps process folate into its active form. It helps you convert one form of folate (5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate) into another form (5-methyltetrahydofolate).
Most individuals with a MTHFR variant process folate normally. However, some with this variant may have reduced MTHFR enzyme function and "use up" folate faster. These individuals may need to take a folic acid supplement to maintain normal levels of folate in their body. These individuals CAN and DO process folic acid. When studied, individuals with the C677T (TT) variant who consumed the same amount of folic acid as someone with the typical gene expression (CC), only had about 16% less folate in their bloodstream. Blood levels were only slightly lower than normal blood levels in those with affected enzyme function.
So what does this mean regarding vaccination? Nothing. Vaccines do not contain, nor affect, folate levels. Having a MTHFR variant does not matter when it comes to vaccines. Only one study (2008) has ever shown a correlation between MTHFR variants and vaccination. These individuals were more likely to have a slightly higher fever, swollen lymph nodes, or rash after smallpox vaccination. No individuals had severe or long lasting effects. Smallpox vaccines are notorious for these outcomes in any population. This vaccine is no longer given to the general public in the U.S, so it’s not really relevant. The authors of this study agreed that this data should NOT be used to recommend skipping any vaccines.
Adverse events after vaccinations are very rare (about 1 in a million). Over HALF of the population has at least one MTHFR variant. If individuals with these variants were more likely to have adverse events, the rates of adverse events would be massive during vaccine trials. We would see large numbers of children experiencing adverse events on a daily basis while being routinely vaccinated. We monitor for safety signals constantly, and this would have been noticed quickly on such a large scale.
Only one condition has shown a definite link: Individuals with the C677T variant have a higher likelihood of delivering a baby with a neural tube defect. Even after thousands of studies, there has been no conclusive link to other medical conditions.
Vaccines are safe for these individuals. There is no data indicating otherwise.
Assessing the association between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C>T polymorphism and blood folate concentrations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of trials and observational studies
ACMG Practice Guideline: lack of evidence for MTHFR polymorphism testing
Genetic Basis for Adverse Events Following Smallpox Vaccination
Vaccines, DNA, and 23&ME
Deep into the MTHFR
Delaying/Spacing Out Vaccines:
We chose to follow the AAP schedule with both of our children, as it is the one supported by evidence. There are some potential drawbacks to delaying or spacing out, which I will relay here.
1. Every immune response (vaccine, illness, etc) comes with an increase in cortisol levels (stress hormones) for your child. This is our body’s natural response to these things (and also to fear, anxiety, distress, etc). It is temporary and normal, but not something you want to be creating more of. Having to get MORE shots MORE often is actually causing an increase in these cortisol spikes. So instead of the three vaccines my child got at their last appointment cause ONE spike, if I separate them, she’d have three separate periods of elevated levels.
2. The schedule is designed to maximize immunity and limit reactions. For example, there MMR is not given before age one because it can interfere with maternal antibodies and produce a less robust immune response. Meaning the immunity might not be as long lasting (you CAN get it after six months and before one if you are in an active outbreak because the pros outweigh the cons, but that’s pretty much it). However, it’s also given BEFORE 15 months before after that point there is a slight increase in risk of febrile seizures (About 0.33%).
RSV is only given before one because that’s when babies are most at risk for severe complications, hospitalizations, etc. Delaying may mean your baby will “age out of it” and never get it, but it also leaves them susceptible to the virus when they are MOST at risk.
3. There is an increase in risk in several other ways: obviously the longer you delay the longer they are left vulnerable. Spreading out means more doctor’s visits and more opportunities for exposure even that way! Even driving more often to the doctor on your car is statistically riskier than severe vaccine reaction. It’s silly, but if numbers offer any reassurance it’s accurate.
Is it my choice? No, I would recommend the established schedule for almost everyone. But I would never put down anyone who chooses to delay if it helps give them peace of mind about vaccinating.
Debunking Anti-Vaccine Myths
Global Vaccine Schedules: "The US gives way more vaccines than any other country."
Canada, the UK, Australia, Israel, Austria, Japan, Germany, and more have very similar (and almost identical in some cases) to the US. Some, like Japan and South Korea, vaccinate for diseases that we don't, like BCG or Japanese encephalitis.
Global immunization comparison: https://
Vit K: "It has a black box warning"
The boxed warning is regarding the ADULT dosage and, almost exclusively, rapid IV administration of large doses given for reverse overdoses of blood thinners (incidence 3/10,000). Not the tiny amount given to neonates. No deaths have ever been reported with the vitamin K injection.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Evidence Based Birth: Vitamin K
Shedding: "The vaccinated shed and make the unvaccinated sick."
- Examples of live-attenuated vaccines include:
- Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine
- Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine
- Rotavirus vaccine
- Intranasal flu vaccine (FluMist)
- Oral polio vaccine (OPV) — no longer available in the U.S.
Measles
Not a single instance of shedding from a recently vaccinated person, causing measles in another person, has EVER occurred.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Guidelines for vaccination
“Household contacts and other close contacts of persons with altered immunocompetence should receive all age- and exposure-appropriate vaccines, with the exception of smallpox vaccine. Receipt of vaccines will prevent the vaccine-preventable disease, so there can be no potential transmission to the contact with altered immunocompetence. The live MMR, varicella, and rotavirus vaccines should be administered to susceptible household contacts and other close contacts of immunocompromised patients when indicated. No specific precautions are needed unless the varicella vaccine recipient has a rash after vaccination, in which case direct contact with susceptible household contacts with altered immunocompetence should be avoided until the rash resolves.”
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/
A Shot In the Dark Debunked
The First Five Errors in A Shot in the Dark
Everything Candace Owens Gets Wrong in Episode 1
Turtles All the Way Down Debunked
Science Based Medicine did a 10 part rebuttal of this book. Here’s part 1.
Humphries/Dissolving Illusions Debunked
On page 355 Humphries claims:
"Thirteen million doses of measles vaccine are injected each year. Those live viruses are attenuated, and the strains will vary from time to time in the manufacturing process, which means that immunity to one strain does not necessarily confer immunity to wild virus or to future virus."
https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-
There are 23 different genotypes of the measles. That means their genetic combinations look different - of those only one is the vaccine strain, strain A. But all of the different genotypes have the same stereotype, what the immune system is trained to recognize from the vaccine strain. So the measles vaccine actually protects against all the different strains.
Science Based Medicine Review of Dissolving Illusions
Why Suzanne Humphries is Lying to You about Measles
Joe Rogan Podcast Appearance:
Lies, Damned Lies, and Suzanne Humphries
Humphries Repeats Debunked Claims about Polio and Vaccines
Dr. Bob Sears/The Vaccine Book Criticisms
1. He came out and said there is no evidence behind his schedule, just his own made up idea.
2. His book is written in a way that gives the wrong impressions without outright saying the wrong thing. It downplays the diseases and presents a lot of anti-vaccine talking points regardless of the merits of these arguments.
3. As one example, if you read the chapter about measles (to understand the risks of the disease) you will NOT learn about SSPE, which is a rare but fatal measles complication that shows up years after infection.
His book also doesn't mention immune amnesia, which is another measles complication that causes the immune system to "forget" how to fight previously encountered diseases.
4. Sears discusses things that get reported after vaccination, as if they happened because of vaccination. Even when we have quality evidence showing this is not the case.
5. He also will rarely give a proper risk comparison. For example, he mentions that there is a risk of GBS from flu vaccination. He does NOT mention that this risk is so tiny, 1 for every million vaccinations. His chapter about flu does NOT tell you that flu infections cause GBS. Approximately 17 per one million cases. So you are about 17x more likely to develop GBS from the flu itself than the vaccine.
He also failed to adequately investigate a child who had been hit on the head with a hammer and falsified vaccine exemptions.
https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/ca-medical-board-takes-action-to-protect-childrens-health-dr-bob-sears-placed-on-probation/
Thomas/Vaccine Friendly Plan Criticisms
Paul Thomas lost his medical license for his gross negligence as a doctor. Failing to perform his duty as a medical professional by not having vaccines available to his patients who did want them. The role he played in the eight week hospitalization of an unvaccinated six year old boy from tetanus. And over ninety instances of malpractice.
The studies he conducted at his own practice were never verified, with concerns that he manipulated or even fabricated the data. When a court asked him to provide the data to verify his studies, Thomas refused.
His book takes snippets of “truth” and manipulates them to fit the narrative he wants to convey. It has been widely criticized and debunked by the scientific community.
Oregon Medical Board Suspension of License Documents
Vaxxed Debunked
Science Based Medicine: Antivaccine Propaganda at its Most Pernicious
Just the Inserts
This account pretends to be "vaccine neutral" but intentionally misleads people about the information in the inserts to make the products seem "scarier" than they are.
For example, under the Adverse Reactions heading of all her write ups she says “Per the CDC, adverse reactions are an undesirable medical condition that has been demonstrated to be caused by a vaccine.” and then lists events reported during clinical trials and post marketing experience. But this definition is not applicable to the FDA regulated inserts and events can be listed on inserts regardless of causality, which is even directly stated on most of the inserts she’s referencing.
On her write up on Gardasil, she states that the vaccine “can cause death” but what the insert actually says is that there were some deaths reported during the clinical trials, none of which were vaccine related. Those deaths included car accidents, a plane crash and a gunshot wound.
So she’s presenting reported events as known side effects that have been proven to be caused by a vaccine when that’s not true and some of the events aren’t even related to vaccines at all.
She references a "study" by Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Inc that claims only 1% of adverse events are reported. However, she neglects to mention that this proposal was for their own automatic detection system. And that this number was achieved by collecting data post vaccination and any ambulatory event, new prescription, or laboratory test that they deemed "suggesting" an adverse event were counted. And then compared that number to actual VAERS reports to end up with 1%. She includes information that fits her narrative and ignores important information that doesn't.
Physicians for Informed Consent Debunked
Misleading Vaccine vs Disease Table
Science Rejectionism of PIC
PIC is a Radical Anti-Vaccine Group
Inconvenient Study/Henry Ford Study Debunked
Documentaries are not a reliable source of evidence. Anyone can make a documentary on anything, it doesn’t have to be true. Del Bigtree is a producer, not a scientist nor a doctor, who has produced several anti-vaccine “documentaries” debunked by the scientific community. He has misstated facts on public health outbreaks (giving straight up fabricated numbers and details of vaccinated vs unvaccinated), incorrectly read vaccine inserts (publicly stating that safety studies lasted five days), and said that wearing a mask during COVID was dangerous to your health. He also wore a Star of David and claimed the “persecution” anti-vaxxers experience is akin to Jews during the Holocaust.
As for the study his movie focuses on, it is a deeply flawed study that was never submitted for publication because of the major issues. Its methodology and raw data are not publicly available for scrutiny for this reason. But from what we can see, there are numerous problems:
1. The vaccinated and unvaccinated groups were not comparable from birth, differing in characteristics like sex, race, and birth weight, which can affect health outcomes.
2. The vaccinated children had significantly more healthcare visits, increasing the likelihood of diagnosis compared to unvaccinated children with fewer visits.
3. The study did not account for the fact that many children might leave the system for care after infancy, making it difficult to track diagnoses made outside the Henry Ford system.
Feel free to comment or DM me on Instagram with any questions on what you've read!
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