The epidemiology of fatalities reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System 1990-1997

Purpose To examine the fatalities reported to the federally administered Va ccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a passive surveillance system , in its first 7 years. Methods The working data set included variables such as demographic informa tion, dates of vaccination, adverse event onset and death, vaccines adminis tered, and vaccination facility data. Frequencies for these data and state reporting rates were calculated. Results A total of 1266 fatalities were reported to VAERS during July 1990 through June 1997. The number of death reports peaked in 1992-1993 and then declined. The overall median age of cases was 0.4 years, with a range of 1 day to 104 years. Nearly half of the deaths were attributed to sudden infa nt death syndrome (SIDS). Conclusions The trend of decreasing numbers of deaths reported to VAERS sin ce 1992-1993 follows that observed for SIDS overall for the US general popu lation following implementation of the 'Back to Sleep' program. These data may support findings of past controlled studies showing that the associatio n between infant vaccination and SIDS is coincidental and not causal. VAERS reports of death after vaccination may be stimulated by the temporal assoc iation, rather than by any causal relationship.