Diabetes not caused by vaccines, say US experts

Fri, 26 Aug 2011
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the United States has published a report which confirms that a range of vaccines do not cause conditions such as type 1 diabetes and autism. There have been worries, especially among parents, about the possible effects of vaccines on a variety of health problems, prompting some to avoid vaccinating their children. Although health professionals have continued to try to reassure the public, many vaccines have had to be reformulated to take this into account.

However, the study, which assessed data from over 1,000 research studies, claimed that vaccines cause little in the way of side effects, or result in diabetes or autism. In particular, the IOM again found that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism or type 1 diabetes, and that other vaccines for conditions such as hepatitis B, influenza and chickenpox also do not have problematic side effects. It is hoped the findings will reassure that the use of vaccines is a largely safe procedure.

Ellen Wright Clayton, chair of IOM, commented "We looked at more than 1,000 articles evaluating the epidemiological and biological evidence about whether vaccines cause side effects."

She added "The big take-home message is that we found only a few cases in which vaccines can cause adverse side effects, and the vast majority of those are short-term and self-limiting."

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