How to Report a Vaccine Adverse Event

Who Can Report?

Anyone can report to VAERS. There is no cost, and you don't need medical training.

• Healthcare providers — Required by law to report certain events (listed in the Vaccine Injury Table) and encouraged to report any clinically significant adverse event.
• Vaccine manufacturers — Required to report all adverse events they learn about.
• Patients and caregivers — Encouraged to report any adverse event after vaccination.
• Anyone else — Family members, friends, lawyers, or other interested parties.

What to Include in Your Report

Gather this information before starting:

• Vaccine details — Name, manufacturer, lot number, dose number
• Vaccination date — When the vaccine was administered
• Onset date — When symptoms first appeared
• Description — Detailed description of the adverse event
• Medical records — Relevant lab results, diagnoses, treatments (if available)
• Patient info — Age, gender, pre-existing conditions, other medications
• Outcome — Whether the person recovered, was hospitalized, etc.

Tip: Check your vaccination card for the lot number and exact vaccine name. If you don't have all the information, you can still submit a report — partial reports are accepted.

What Happens After You Report

1. Acknowledgment — VAERS assigns a unique report ID and sends confirmation.
2. Review — CDC/FDA staff review the report, especially for serious events.
3. Follow-up — For serious reports, VAERS may request additional medical records or contact you for details.
4. Database entry — Reports are added to the public VAERS database (typically within 1-4 weeks).
5. Analysis — CDC/FDA scientists analyze patterns across all reports to detect potential safety signals.

Why Reporting Matters

VAERS is a passive surveillance system — it only works if people report. Studies suggest that only 1-10% of adverse events are actually reported to VAERS (a phenomenon called underreporting).

Every report helps. VAERS was instrumental in detecting:

• Myocarditis risk after mRNA COVID vaccines
• Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (TTS) after J&J/Janssen COVID vaccine
• Intussusception after RotaShield rotavirus vaccine (led to withdrawal)
• Guillain-Barré Syndrome association with certain flu vaccines