Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Mar 17:11:372.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00372. eCollection 2020.

Vaccine Safety: Myths and Misinformation

Sarah Geoghegan  1   2 , Kevin P O'Callaghan  1 , Paul A Offit  1
Affiliations
Review

Vaccine Safety: Myths and Misinformation

Sarah Geoghegan et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

The World Health Organization has named vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019. The reasons why people choose not to vaccinate are complex, but lack of confidence in vaccine safety, driven by concerns about adverse events, has been identified as one of the key factors. Healthcare workers, especially those in primary care, remain key influencers on vaccine decisions. It is important, therefore, that they be supported by having easy access to trusted, evidence-based information on vaccines. Although parents and patients have a number of concerns about vaccine safety, among the most common are fears that adjuvants like aluminum, preservatives like mercury, inactivating agents like formaldehyde, manufacturing residuals like human or animal DNA fragments, and simply the sheer number of vaccines might be overwhelming, weakening or perturbing the immune system. As a consequence, some fear that vaccines are causing autism, diabetes, developmental delays, hyperactivity, and attention-deficit disorders, amongst others. In this review we will address several of these topics and highlight the robust body of scientific evidence that refutes common concerns about vaccine safety.

Keywords: adjuvant; immunization; safety; side effect; vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Arana J. E., Harrington T., Cano M., Lewis P., Mba-Jonas A., Rongxia L., et al. (2018). Post-licensure safety monitoring of quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 2009-2015. Vaccine 36 1781–1788. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.02.034 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arnheim-Dahlstrom L., Pasternak B., Svanstrom H., Sparen P., Hviid A. (2013). Autoimmune, neurological, and venous thromboembolic adverse events after immunisation of adolescent girls with quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine in Denmark and Sweden: cohort study. BMJ 347:f5906. 10.1136/bmj.f5906 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beyerlein A., Strobl A. N., Winkler C., Carpus M., Knopff A., Donnachie E., et al. (2017). Vaccinations in early life are not associated with development of islet autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes high-risk children: results from prospective cohort data. Vaccine 35 1735–1741. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.02.049 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] (2019). HPV Vaccination is Safe and Effective. Available online at: https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/parents/vaccinesafety.html (accessed October 30, 2019).
    1. DeSilva M., Vazquez-Benitez G., Nordin J. D., Lipkind H. S., Klein N. P., Cheetham T. C., et al. (2017). Maternal Tdap vaccination and risk of infant morbidity. Vaccine 35 3655–3660. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.05.041 - DOI - PMC - PubMed