Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
Pediatric VAERS Reports
Children ages 0-17 represent a unique population in VAERS reporting. With distinct vaccination schedules and physiology, their adverse event profiles differ from adults.
The Pediatric Landscape
Children ages 0-17 account for 381,262 VAERS reports, representing 19.2% of the total. The youngest group (0-2) has 149,466 reports, while children 3-17 account for 231,796.
Notably, infants (0-2) have a disproportionately high number of death reports (3,406) relative to their total reports. This reflects the tragic reality of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other conditions that can occur in infancy, some of which may be temporally associated with routine vaccination without being caused by it.
Childhood Vaccination Schedule
The CDC recommends a standard childhood vaccination schedule that covers dozens of doses in the first few years of life. Vaccines like DTaP, MMR, varicella, and pneumococcal are routinely administered. Because so many doses are given to young children, a significant portion of VAERS reports naturally come from this age group.
Outcome Severity
Among pediatric reports, 3,892 mentioned death and 24,488 involved hospitalization. The death rate among 0-2 year old reports (2.3%) is notably higher than for 3-17 year olds (0.2%), again reflecting SIDS and neonatal conditions.
Key Takeaways
- 1.Children 0-17 account for 19.2% of all VAERS reports
- 2.Infants (0-2) have higher death report rates, largely reflecting SIDS and neonatal conditions
- 3.The intensive childhood vaccination schedule means more temporal associations with common conditions
- 4.VAERS reports alone cannot establish that vaccines caused any observed adverse event