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.
Children ages 0-17 represent a unique population in VAERS reporting. With distinct vaccination schedules and physiology, their adverse event profiles differ from adults.
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.
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.
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.
The pediatric vaccination landscape continues to evolve in 2026. Several developments are shaping the data parents and healthcare providers are watching:
For parents researching vaccine safety, VAERS data is one piece of a larger picture. The CDC vaccine schedule page links each recommended vaccine to its full VAERS adverse event profile on VaccineWatch.
As VAERS reporting normalizes following the COVID-19 pandemic surge, the data landscape for pediatric adverse event reporting is shifting. Annual VAERS reports in 2025-2026 have returned to the 35,000-45,000 range typical of the pre-pandemic era (2015-2019), making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful again.
The HHS administration has signaled increased focus on vaccine safety data analysis, including the development of AI-powered tools for pattern detection in VAERS reports. While these tools are still under development, they represent a potential evolution in how adverse event data is analyzed and interpreted.
New vaccines entering the market — including RSV vaccines for older adults and pregnant women, updated COVID-19 formulations, and potential H5N1 avian flu vaccines — continue to add new data streams to VAERS. Each new vaccine type provides additional context for understanding pediatric adverse event reporting across the full spectrum of vaccine safety surveillance.
This analysis is based entirely on VAERS passive surveillance data, which carries important limitations that must be understood:
For these reasons, VAERS data is best used for signal detection — identifying potential safety concerns that warrant further investigation — rather than for definitive risk assessment. When VAERS surfaces a potential signal, it is investigated using more rigorous systems like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and controlled epidemiological studies.
All data on VaccineWatch comes from the official VAERS public-use datasets published by the CDC and FDA. Our current dataset covers reports from 1990 through early 2026. We process the raw data without filtering or editorializing — every metric is a transparent aggregation of official government data.
As VAERS reporting normalizes following the COVID-19 pandemic surge, the data landscape for pediatric adverse event reporting is shifting. Annual VAERS reports in 2025-2026 have returned to the 35,000-45,000 range typical of the pre-pandemic era (2015-2019), making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful again.
The HHS administration has signaled increased focus on vaccine safety data analysis, including the development of AI-powered tools for pattern detection in VAERS reports. While these tools are still under development, they represent a potential evolution in how adverse event data is analyzed and interpreted.
New vaccines entering the market — including RSV vaccines for older adults and pregnant women, updated COVID-19 formulations, and potential H5N1 avian flu vaccines — continue to add new data streams to VAERS. Each new vaccine type provides additional context for understanding pediatric adverse event reporting across the full spectrum of vaccine safety surveillance.
This analysis is based entirely on VAERS passive surveillance data, which carries important limitations that must be understood:
For these reasons, VAERS data is best used for signal detection — identifying potential safety concerns that warrant further investigation — rather than for definitive risk assessment. When VAERS surfaces a potential signal, it is investigated using more rigorous systems like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and controlled epidemiological studies.
All data on VaccineWatch comes from the official VAERS public-use datasets published by the CDC and FDA. Our current dataset covers reports from 1990 through early 2026. We process the raw data without filtering or editorializing — every metric is a transparent aggregation of official government data.
As VAERS reporting normalizes following the COVID-19 pandemic surge, the data landscape for pediatric adverse event reporting is shifting. Annual VAERS reports in 2025-2026 have returned to the 35,000-45,000 range typical of the pre-pandemic era (2015-2019), making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful again.
The HHS administration has signaled increased focus on vaccine safety data analysis, including the development of AI-powered tools for pattern detection in VAERS reports. While these tools are still under development, they represent a potential evolution in how adverse event data is analyzed and interpreted.
New vaccines entering the market — including RSV vaccines for older adults and pregnant women, updated COVID-19 formulations, and potential H5N1 avian flu vaccines — continue to add new data streams to VAERS. Each new vaccine type provides additional context for understanding pediatric adverse event reporting across the full spectrum of vaccine safety surveillance.
This analysis is based entirely on VAERS passive surveillance data, which carries important limitations that must be understood:
For these reasons, VAERS data is best used for signal detection — identifying potential safety concerns that warrant further investigation — rather than for definitive risk assessment. When VAERS surfaces a potential signal, it is investigated using more rigorous systems like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and controlled epidemiological studies.
All data on VaccineWatch comes from the official VAERS public-use datasets published by the CDC and FDA. Our current dataset covers reports from 1990 through early 2026. We process the raw data without filtering or editorializing — every metric is a transparent aggregation of official government data.