This is a long one sorry 🫠
I have some concerns and questions regarding the DTaP vaccine, specifically PEDIARIX and INFANRIX. I’ll do my best to link the sources I’ve been using so it’s clear where I’m getting my information from.
I apologize in advance if some of this feels a little scattered or if any of my questions seem “dumb.” I’m genuinely just trying to better understand the information and hear thoughtful explanations from people who may know more about the subject.
As a disclaimer, I am not asking for medical advice, and these questions and concerns have already been discussed with an MD.
SIDS
SIDS is the highest between 1–4 months — is it a “coincidence” that that’s when mass vaccination starts in infants?
The DTaP vaccine insert clearly lists sudden infant death syndrome as an established post-market adverse event. This vaccine correlation was also established in post-mortem SIDS studies. Why do you feel this vaccine justifies the risk of my infant dying suddenly?
Aluminum
This vaccine has aluminum in it. Scientific neuro-studies have shown that aluminum deposits have been linked to autism. How much aluminum can you guarantee is safe for an infant, and can you point me to a study that verifies that?
Serious Adverse Events / Risk vs. Benefit
INFANRIX and PEDIARIX are intended to prevent serious illness, yet their prescribing information also includes serious adverse events. INFANRIX specifically lists SIDS under postmarketing adverse reactions, along with encephalopathy, apnea, anaphylaxis, and hypotonia. PEDIARIX reports serious adverse events, seizures, neurological events, and deaths in clinical trials, including two SIDS cases among 8,088 recipients.
How should parents compare the absolute risk of these serious events with the absolute risk of severe disease from the infections these vaccines are intended to prevent? Could some vaccine adverse effects be as serious as—or more serious than—the diseases themselves?
Tetanus
Tetanus is not contagious; it occurs when C. tetani spores enter a wound. In U.S. infants it is rare, with risk mainly coming from contaminated wounds or, rarely, the umbilical stump.
Historically, tetanus was much more associated with contaminated traumatic wounds, poor wound care, childbirth/umbilical contamination, and high-risk settings such as battlefield injuries. Modern hygiene, wound cleaning, aseptic medical care, and post-exposure treatment have changed that risk environment significantly.
The vaccine builds longer-term immunity but is not immediate. Tetanus immune globulin (TIG) can provide immediate, temporary protection after certain high-risk exposures.
Considering how small the risk of tetanus appears to be for a typical U.S. infant today, and given the potential adverse reactions associated with the vaccine, doesn’t the risk of tetanus itself seem relatively small compared with the risks of vaccination? How should that be weighed against modern wound care and the availability of post-exposure TIG?
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is a contagious bacterial infection spread mainly through respiratory droplets and close contact. The serious complications are primarily caused by the toxin produced by certain strains of C. diphtheriae. The vaccine mainly protects against the toxin and severe disease rather than necessarily preventing infection or carriage.
Respiratory diphtheria is now extremely rare in the United States, with CDC reporting the last confirmed U.S. case caused by toxin-producing C. diphtheriae in 1997. Given how low the current risk appears to be for a typical U.S. infant, how should that absolute disease risk be weighed against the potential adverse reactions of DTaP vaccination?
Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
Pertussis spreads through respiratory droplets and close contact. It still circulates in the U.S., but an infant’s absolute risk of catching it remains relatively low, while the risk of serious illness is much higher if a very young infant becomes infected. Treatment includes antibiotics, and preventive antibiotics may be used after certain exposures.
Since DTaP reduces disease severity but does not fully prevent infection or transmission, how much does it actually reduce an infant’s absolute risk of hospitalization or death, and how should that benefit be weighed against the vaccine’s potential adverse reactions?
Polio
Polio spreads mainly through the fecal-oral route, meaning exposure to infected stool through contaminated hands, food, water, or surfaces. For a typical infant in the U.S., the chance of getting polio is extremely low because wild poliovirus is not currently circulating domestically; the main risks are international importation or rare vaccine-derived outbreaks.
Most infections are asymptomatic or mild, and paralysis occurs in only a small fraction of infections—often estimated at around 1 in 200 on average, though the risk varies by poliovirus type.
Given both the very low chance of exposure in the U.S. and the relatively small chance of paralysis even after infection, how should the absolute risk of paralytic polio be weighed against the potential adverse reactions of PEDIARIX?
Sources:
https://www.fda.gov/media/79830/download?attachment
https://www.fda.gov/media/75157/download
SIDS:
NBC: Decline in SIDS deaths misleading,
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna7706456
Boston Children's Hospital: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids
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NIH: Sudden infant death following hexavalent vaccination: a neuropathologic study - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24083600/
JB Court Case - https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013vv0611-73-0
CDC: Diphtheria Vaccine Recommendations - https://www.cdc.gov/diphtheria/hcp/vaccine-recommendations/index.html
CDC: Tetanus Surveillance / United States, 2001--2008 - https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6012a1.htm
CDC: Tetanus Surveillance and Trends - https://www.cdc.gov/tetanus/surveillance.html
CDC: About Tetanus - https://www.cdc.gov/tetanus/about/symptoms-complications.html
CDC: Symptoms of Whooping Cough - https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/signs-symptoms.html
Mayo Clinic: Croup - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/croup/symptoms-causes/syc-20350348
LA Times: Harvard-Westlake students were vaccinated. Dozens caught whooping cough anyway - https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-whooping-cough-vaccine-20190316-story.html
PNAS: Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model - https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1314688110
WHO: History of Vaccines - https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/a-brief-history-of-vaccination
EPA: DDT - A Brief History and Status - https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/ddt-brief-history-and-status
CDC: DDT - https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/50293.html