Vaccine reaction

Alternative names:

vaccine injury

Definition:

Any injury or condition that has occurred as a result of vaccination by a select number of childhood vaccines.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Vaccines considered capable of producing injury or abnormal conditions such as seizures include DPT (D= diphtheria, P= pertussis or whooping cough, T= tetanus), Polio vaccine (oral only), and MMR (M - measles, M - mumps, R - rubella) and possibly hepatitis B vaccine (HBV).

The Department of Health and Human Service has found that whole cell (DPT) pertussis containing vaccines have a causal relationship with the following conditions:

• anaphylaxis
• acute encephalopathy (encephalitis)
• shock
• unusual shock-like states

The Department of Health and Human Services also has determined that vaccines containing pertussis do NOT have a causal relationship with:

• Sudden Infant Death (SIDS)
• afebrile seizures
• infantile spasms
• hypsarrhythmia
• autism
• attention deficit disorders
• learning disabilities
• Reye's syndrome
• epilepsy
• Guillain-Barre
• juvenile diabetes

As the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act presently stands, the criteria for vaccine-related injuries are:

DPT

• anaphylactic shock occurring within 24 hours
• encephalitis occurring by the end of the 3rd day
• residual seizure disorder with the first seizure occurring by the end of the 3rd day
• shock-like state, hypotonia, decreased responsiveness by the end of the 3rd day

MMR

• anaphylactic shock - Children with anaphylactic reaction to egg ingestion should have an allergy consult before considering vaccination with MMR
• encephalitis occurring within 15 days of immunization

Polio vaccine (live)

• paralytic polio (nonimmunodeficient individual) within 30 days
• paralytic polio (immunocompromised individual) within six months

Polio vaccine (inactivated)

• Anaphylactic shock occurring within seven days