Childhood vaccines and the diseases they target, from the official record

Diseases

Death rates

Main figure: deaths per 100,000 of the whole population per year, from official death registrations: ONS for England and Wales (the UK column) and CDC WONDER for the US. They are split into vaccinated and unvaccinated people only where an official body has published that split. Otherwise it says "not published"; this guide never calculates a split. The ICD-10 code under each figure shows which causes of death were counted.

The difference: Deaths per 100,000 of the whole population per year counts everyone, including people who never caught the disease, so it shows how many people the disease kills in a country each year; deaths per 100,000 who caught it shows how dangerous it is once you have it.

Small case numbers make some rates unreliable; those figures are flagged ⚠ (under 20 deaths, the threshold CDC WONDER uses for "unreliable").

Excess deaths since 2020

"Excess deaths" means deaths registered above the number expected. The expected number depends on the method, so different official bodies give different totals for the same year.

These headline figures (ONS age-standardised mortality rates, CDC age-adjusted rates, and the post-2024 ONS and OHID baselines) already account for population ageing and growth. ONS: 'Unlike the current method, the new method accounts for trends in population size, age structure and mortality rates.' source

UK: England and Wales, official figures

ONS changed its method in February 2024. The old method used a simple 5-year average of deaths; the new one uses a model that accounts for population size, age and trends. Whole UK, both methods: source

• England 2023, OHID new method (rolling 5-year trend baseline, revised population): 10,890 excess deaths (2% higher than expected). source
• England 2023, OHID previous method (2015-2019 trend baseline): 26,976 excess deaths (5%). Same previous method: 2020 (from 21 March) 70,718; 2021 43,102; 2022 30,587. source
• OHID: 'The flatter gradient leads to higher expected deaths and therefore lower excess deaths.' OHID paused its report after May 2026 because 'ONS and OHID adopted a similar excess mortality methodology'. source source 2

Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own figures (National Records of Scotland, NISRA); they are included only in the whole-UK ONS row above.

US: official figures

• CDC's official weekly excess-deaths estimates stopped in September 2023: 'Effective September 27, 2023, this dataset will no longer be updated. Similar data are accessible from wonder.cdc.gov.' This guide therefore shows CDC's age-adjusted death rates rather than an excess count for the US, and does not calculate one. source

Excess broken down by cause of death

England 2023, OHID official estimate by underlying cause (age- and population-adjusted baseline) source

OHID: "the causes in the table do not sum to the total: some causes are missing". OHID dropped diabetes from its cause list because, as an underlying cause, the numbers were too small. Its earlier report, based on any mention on the death certificate, is not comparable.

England and Wales: deaths by cause group, 2019-2025 (registered deaths; counts, not adjusted for age or population, and not excess estimates) source

US: age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 by cause, 2019-2024 (CDC does not publish an excess figure by cause after September 2023) source

Infectious-disease share of the excess

• England 2023 (OHID): OHID's cause groups have no 'infectious diseases' group and do not include COVID-19. The one infection group shown, influenza and pneumonia, had 7,791 excess deaths out of 10,890 for all causes (OHID notes the causes 'do not sum to the total'). source
• That is about 72% (7,791 / 10,890, calculated by this guide from the OHID figures; because OHID's groups are not additive, this is a rough indication, not an official share). (calculated by this guide)
• England and Wales, ICD-10 chapter 1 (infectious and parasitic diseases, which excludes COVID-19 and flu/pneumonia): registered deaths 5,113 in 2019; 4,332 in 2020; 5,484 in 2021; 6,793 in 2022; 7,714 in 2023; 8,007 in 2024; 8,383 in 2025. These are counts, not adjusted for age or population, and not excess estimates. ONS does not publish an excess estimate for this chapter. source
• Within that chapter, most of the 2019-2022 rise was sepsis (A40-A41: 2,453 in 2019; 3,761 in 2022). TB, malaria and measles were each under 200 deaths a year (see the table below). source
• US: no official excess-by-cause series after September 2023, so no official infectious share is published. Age-adjusted death rate for infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99, excludes COVID-19): 16.2 per 100,000 in 2019, 15.8 in 2024. COVID-19 (U07.1): 85.0 in 2020, 104.1 in 2021, 7.3 in 2024. source

England and Wales: infectious-disease deaths by type, 2019-2022 (ONS; underlying cause; latest year in this file is 2022) source

⚠ Rows with fewer than 20 deaths a year are unreliable as rates.

Imported and non-endemic infections, 2020 onwards

Tuberculosis (TB) - England

• Notifications: 4,831 in 2023; 5,490 in 2024 (13.6% rise). Share born outside the UK: 73.7% in 2019, 73.2% in 2020, 77.1% in 2021, 79.0% in 2022, 80.0% in 2023, 81.9% in 2024. Rate per 100,000 in 2024: 46.9 for people born outside the UK, 2.1 for UK-born. source
• UKHSA on recent arrivals: 'This likely reflects the increased migration from higher incidence countries and effects of global disruptions in TB care due to the COVID-19 pandemic.' (UKHSA links this to TB cases, not to excess deaths.) source
• Deaths: of people notified in 2023, '4.6% of people had died at their last reported treatment outcome', down from 'the peak of 6.0% in 2021 for people notified in the peak pandemic year of 2020'. source
• Deaths with TB as the underlying cause (A15-A19), England and Wales: 156 in 2019; 168 in 2020; 152 in 2021; 169 in 2022 (latest year in this ONS file). source

Tuberculosis (TB) - US

• Cases: 8,895 in 2019; 7,170 in 2020; 7,866 in 2021; 8,335 in 2022; 9,626 in 2023; 10,388 in 2024. Share among non-US-born people: 71.2% in 2019, 77.2% in 2024. Rate per 100,000 in 2024: 15.7 non-US-born, 0.8 US-born. source
• Deaths with TB as the underlying cause (A16-A19): 526 in 2019; 600 in 2020; 602 in 2021; 565 in 2022; 572 in 2023; 622 in 2024. CDC: 'the TB death rate has remained stable at 0.2 per 100,000 population.' source source 2

Malaria (not caught in the UK or US; all cases imported)

• UK 2023: 2,106 imported cases. 'A total of 6 deaths were reported in 2023, which is the same as the annual average of deaths between 2014 and 2023.' Of cases with travel information, 72% were UK residents travelling abroad (74% of those visiting friends and relatives); 15% were new entrants to the UK (including foreign students); 5% were foreign visitors. source
• Deaths with malaria as the underlying cause (B50-B54), England and Wales: 12 in 2019; 7 in 2020; 1 in 2021; 6 in 2022. source ⚠ small numbers
• US deaths with malaria as the underlying cause (B50-B54): 14 in 2023; 18 in 2024; 2018-2022 not shown by CDC WONDER (fewer than 10 a year, or none). source ⚠ small numbers

Measles

• England and Wales deaths with measles as the underlying cause (B05): 4 in 2019; 0 in 2020; 1 in 2021; 0 in 2022. source ⚠ small numbers
• England 2025: 958 lab-confirmed cases (2,911 in 2024); 3 measles-related deaths registered in England and Wales in 2025. source ⚠ small numbers
• US 2025: 2,289 confirmed cases (including 26 international visitors); 3 deaths. CDC WONDER shows no measles deaths for 2018-2024. source ⚠ small numbers

Migration-linked infection as a suggested cause

• Not listed as a suggested cause. In the official and peer-reviewed sources checked (ONS, OHID, UKHSA, CDC/NCHS, PubMed searches), none names imported or migration-linked infection as a cause of excess deaths in the UK or US. That does not mean no such source exists. (search done 22 Oct 2026)
• Related but different findings: UKHSA links the recent rise in TB cases to migration from higher-incidence countries (see above). A peer-reviewed study found that 'Migrants from 17 of 19 countries/regions examined had higher mortality from COVID-19 than non-migrants' in England and Wales in 2020-2021. Neither source presents migration-linked infection as a cause of the overall excess. source source 2

Flu: deaths, lab tests, and the children's nasal spray

England and Wales: deaths with flu or pneumonia as the underlying cause (ICD-10 J09-J18; deaths registered; counts, not adjusted for age or population)

• ONS publishes influenza and pneumonia separately each year (Table 7, all ages excluding under-1s). The 2023 split is available there: 2,179 flu, 22,061 pneumonia (24,240 together, the same total as ONS Table 4). source
• The last two columns are this guide's own count from the ONS 21st Century Mortality file (all ages, including babies under 1 but excluding newborns under 28 days, who are not given an underlying cause). That file ends at 2022. (calculated by this guide from raw/ons/21stcmortality.xlsx)
• 'Flu and pneumonia' is mostly pneumonia: flu itself was between 34 and 4,309 deaths a year in this period. ONS: 'We often count “influenza and pneumonia” together because many cases of pneumonia are in fact caused by influenza.' source
• In 2020, deaths due to flu and pneumonia were 'below the five-year average (2015 to 2019) in every month' from January to August (ONS, deaths by date of occurrence). source

Flu in laboratory tests, 2020-2022

• England, Respiratory DataMart (hospital and public health laboratories): in winter 2020-21 flu 'detections ... were extremely low, never reaching more than 0.2% of samples tested. This compares to peak positivity of 25.3% in 2019 to 2020 and 28.6% in 2018 to 2019.' source
• England, winter 2021-22: flu positivity 'remained low', rising to 1.1% in December 2021, then to 5.3% by early April 2022 ('a late-season increase'). source
• England, UKHSA model of flu-attributable deaths (FluMOMO): 9,123 in 2019-20; 0 in 2020-21; 432 in 2021-22; 14,378 in 2022-23; 4,431 in 2023-24; 9,740 in 2024-25; 3,798 in 2025-26. source
• US clinical laboratories: share of flu tests positive fell 'from a median of 19.34% to 0.33%' (before vs after 1 March 2020), while the number of specimens tested fell 61%. source
• Australia, Chile and South Africa (WHO FluNet), April-July 2020: 51 positive out of 83,307 specimens tested (0.06%), against 13.7% (24,512 of 178,690) in the same months of 2017-2019. source
• Australia 2020: 21,266 laboratory-confirmed flu notifications and 37 flu-associated deaths. The report warns that 2020 data 'may not accurately reflect influenza activity' because of distancing, changed health-seeking and 'focussed testing for COVID-19'. source
• Note: the swab figures above come from laboratory flu tests, not from death certificates. (note by this guide)

Why flu fell: the two explanations

Both are shown with their sources. This guide does not choose between them.

(a) Official view: distancing and lockdowns stopped flu spreading

• CDC (MMWR): the fall 'were attributed to both artifactual changes related to declines in routine health seeking for respiratory illness as well as real changes in influenza virus circulation because of widespread implementation of measures to mitigate transmission of SARS-CoV-2.' source
• UKHSA: the small rise in December 2021 then fall 'coincides with the introduction of non-pharmaceutical intervention measures to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant'. source
• Australian Department of Health: 'COVID-19 related public health measures and the community's adherence to public health messages are also likely to have had an effect on transmission of acute respiratory infections, including influenza.' source

(b) Critics' view: some flu (and other) deaths were recorded as COVID-19

• Published critics (McGowan, Hunt and Mitteldorf, 2023) argue that US CDC guidance from April 2020 'encourages physicians and others to assign COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death in any death where COVID-19 is detected by tests or even just suspected, raising the possibility that heart attack and stroke deaths might be wrongly classified as COVID-19 deaths, as well as the traditional pneumonia and influenza deaths'. source
• ONS (England and Wales, Jan-Aug 2020): where both flu/pneumonia and COVID-19 were on the death certificate, COVID-19 was recorded as the underlying cause in 95.8% (18,642 deaths). Pneumonia was mentioned on 69,781 certificates and influenza on 506, against 52,327 for COVID-19, but COVID-19 was the underlying cause in 3.4 times as many deaths. source
• UK daily counts: in July 2020 University of Oxford researchers reported that Public Health England counted anyone who had ever tested positive and later died: 'A patient who has tested positive, but successfully treated and discharged from hospital, will still be counted as a COVID death even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later.' source
• After a review, from 12 August 2020 the UK switched its daily count to deaths within 28 days of a positive test (41,329 UK deaths on that basis at the time). PHE's analysis 'found 96% of deaths occurred within 60 days or had COVID-19 on the death certificate. 88% of deaths occurred within 28 days.' source
• No official or peer-reviewed study was found that measures how many flu deaths, if any, were recorded as COVID-19. (search done 22 Oct 2026)

Hospital payments for COVID-19 patients

• US (documented): section 3710 of the CARES Act told Medicare to 'increase the weighting factor of the assigned Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) by 20 percent for an individual diagnosed with COVID-19' during the public health emergency. From 1 September 2020, a positive viral test had to be in the patient's record for the extra payment. source
• UK (England): from April 2020 NHS hospital trusts were paid fixed monthly sums: 'Payment will be made on the block basis ... for each month from April to July 2020', instead of payment per contract activity. This guide found no per-case payment for COVID-19 patients in the UK sources checked. source

Children's nasal flu vaccine (Fluenz) and the 2025-26 UK flu season

The vaccine

• The children's nasal spray (Fluenz) is the only live flu vaccine used in the UK: 'LAIV contains live viruses that have been attenuated (weakened) and adapted to cold so that they can only replicate at the lower temperatures found in the nasal passage.' source
• It is 'the first-line option for most children' in England's programme; children who cannot have it get an injected (inactivated) vaccine. source

The 2025-26 season in the UK

• UKHSA: 'the season started in the second half of October 2025 in children and young adults with rising influenza A(H3N2) activity. It peaked around the second week of December (2025) and declined after.' source
• UKHSA (Nov 2025): 'Flu activity has risen unusually early this season, with increases first seen in teenagers and young adults, followed by younger children.' source
• Lab-test positivity was highest in 5-14 year olds, peaking at 47.4% on 2 December 2025. source
• Size compared with other years: 'activity started earlier than in the 2024 to 2025 season but also declined earlier and the overall level of activity over the course of the season was lower'. Flu-attributable deaths in England: 3,798 (2025-26) vs 9,740 (2024-25) and 4,431 (2023-24). Flu-related deaths in under-18s: 36 vs 66, 36 and 89 in the three previous seasons. source

The strain mismatch (subclade K)

• Of 1,615 H3N2 viruses sequenced in England, 97.3% were subclade K. Of 293 tested antigenically, 280 (95.6%) were 'antigenically distant' from the 2025-26 vaccine strains. source
• ECDC: subclade K was 47% of H3N2 sequences in the EU/EEA and 33% worldwide (May-November 2025), found in 'Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America'; Hong Kong and Taiwan also had H3N2-dominated epidemics. source

Uptake in children (England, 2025-26)

• Age 2-3: 44.2%. School years reception to 11: 52.2% (primary 55.5%, secondary 48.0%). source

How well it worked in children

• Early estimate (autumn 2025, ages 2-17, any flu vaccine): 74.8% against emergency-department attendance and 73.8% against hospital admission with flu A; 74.7% and 72.8% against H3N2. source
• End of season (ages 2-17): 51.6% against GP-diagnosed flu; 67.9% against hospital admission. source
• A published critic asks: 'If nearly half of flu tests in children are positive despite nearly half of children being vaccinated, what does that say about the effectiveness of the vaccine?' source

Did the spray cause or spread the outbreak? (shedding evidence)

• UKHSA sequencing: 'Genome sequencing has confirmed the detection of LAIV viruses in 9 influenza A/B positive samples in surveillance samples collected since week 40 2025, all from children aged between 2 and 16 years, consistent with known shedding characteristics of LAIV viruses.' (Compare: 1,615 H3N2 viruses sequenced, 97.3% subclade K.) source
• UKHSA: its child flu-death estimates 'may include deaths that are not attributable to influenza infection, including detections due to live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV)'. source
• UK shedding study (PHE, 2016-18): the H3N2 vaccine strain was found in the nose of 19.7% and 18.7% of vaccinated children (swabs on days 1, 3 and 6). source
• Day-care trial (Finland, under-3s): 80% of vaccinated children shed vaccine virus; one vaccine strain passed to one unvaccinated child; estimated chance of passing it on per close contact 0.58% (95% CI 0-1.7%); 'No clinically significant illness occurred'. source
• UK guidance: over 30 million LAIV doses in the UK with 'no reported instances of illness or infections from the vaccine virus among immunocompromised patients inadvertently exposed'. It still notes a 'theoretical potential for transmission of live attenuated influenza virus in LAIV to immunocompromised contacts for 1 to 2 weeks following vaccination'. source
• Critics: Children's Health Defense's chief scientific officer: 'Live virus vaccines shed with consequences, especially to pregnant women and infants where this vaccine is contraindicated.' (said about US FluMist home use, 2024). source
• No official or peer-reviewed source was found that says the spray caused the 2025-26 outbreak. No published critic was found who presents data showing that it did. (search done 22 Oct 2026)
• What the cited sources show: the virus behind the outbreak was subclade K, which differs from the vaccine strain; vaccine virus turned up in 9 surveillance samples; the season began in teenagers and young adults as well as children; and subclade K drove early seasons in other countries too. None of these sources studied the question directly. (summary by this guide of the sources above)

What independent analysts have highlighted

Summaries of what each person says in the linked video (from the video captions). Wording is theirs or close to it; this guide has not checked their claims, and they are not official sources.

Suggested causes under investigation

Explanations named in official or peer-reviewed sources (and, for the COVID jab, by the analysts above), in no particular order. This guide does not rank them. Population ageing is not listed: the headline figures above already account for it.

COVID-19 infection and its after-effects (including long COVID)

• Deaths with COVID-19 as the underlying cause: England and Wales 73,767 (2020), 67,369 (2021), 22,485 (2022), 11,847 (2023), 6,636 (2024), 3,095 (2025). source
• US age-adjusted COVID-19 death rate per 100,000: 85.0 (2020), 104.1 (2021), 44.5 (2022), 11.9 (2023), 7.3 (2024). source
• Peer-reviewed (US veterans): 'beyond the first 30 d after infection, individuals with COVID-19 are at increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease'. source
• Peer-reviewed (24 countries): results 'suggest important indirect effects of the pandemic on non-COVID-19 mortality through the consequences of COVID-19 infection, nonpharmaceutical interventions, and underreporting of COVID-19-related deaths.' source

Delayed or missed care, including NHS waiting times

• Peer-reviewed (England, 2016-18, before the pandemic): delays over 5 hours from arrival to admission 'are associated with an increase in all-cause 30-day mortality'; 'For every 82 admitted patients whose time to inpatient bed transfer is delayed beyond 6 to 8 hours... there is one extra death.' source
• Peer-reviewed (England, 2021-22, ONS authors): 'Longer time spent in the ED for nonimmediate care is associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality within 30 days', but 'the reasons for this association are uncertain and may reflect residual confounding'. source

Cardiovascular disease and diabetes trends

• Peer-reviewed (24 countries incl. England and Wales, US): 'Life expectancy losses due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality were widespread during the pandemic'. source
• England 2023 (OHID, underlying cause): circulatory diseases +2% above expected; stroke +5%; ischaemic heart disease 0%. source
• US age-adjusted diabetes death rate per 100,000: 21.6 (2019), 24.8 (2020), 25.4 (2021), 24.1 (2022), 22.4 (2023), 21.7 (2024). Circulatory: 214.6 (2019), 233.3 (2021), 212.9 (2024). source

Influenza and other respiratory infections

• OHID: in England in 2023, 'the underlying cause group resulting in the largest excess in 2023 was influenza and pneumonia'; for January 2023 peaks in circulatory, respiratory and dementia deaths, 'It is likely that the high levels of flu circulating contributed'. source

The COVID jab (mRNA vaccine)

• Raised by the analysts listed above. Dr John Campbell points to timing ('after the vaccine roll out') and to countries with no mRNA roll-out having lower deaths than expected, and cites the Mostert et al. paper (below). source
• Peer-reviewed paper often cited: Mostert et al., BMJ Public Health, May 2024 (excess deaths in 47 Western countries, 2020-2022). Its discussion named possible causes including COVID-19 vaccination. The journal retracted it on 11 Aug 2026 'for misinformation in the discussion regarding the possible causes of excess mortality, and because the limited nature of the original work by the authors was not sufficiently described'. Two authors agreed with the retraction but 'do not agree that the article contains misinformation'; Mostert 'disagrees with the decision to retract and the reasons for retraction'. source source 2
• Official data on the question (England, ONS, April 2021 to May 2023): age-standardised rate of deaths NOT involving COVID-19 in May 2023 was 901.6 per 100,000 person-years in unvaccinated people and 840.6 in ever-vaccinated people. ONS caution: 'the characteristics of people in the different vaccination status groups, such as health, may differ, particularly due to the prioritisation of the vaccine to more clinically vulnerable people.' source
• CDC and US official bodies: no published assessment of the COVID jab as a cause of overall excess deaths was found in the sources checked. (search done 22 Oct 2026)

Ingredients of concern

Ingredients people often ask about. For each one: why it is used, which products in this guide list it, the amount per dose, what official bodies say about its safety, comparison exposures, regulatory history, and any cost reasons the sources give. Quotes are copied from the linked sources. This guide adds no opinion either way. "None found in the sources checked" means we looked and found nothing; it does not mean nothing exists.

mRNA vaccines, and mRNA and DNA

mRNA vaccines give the body's cells a genetic message (messenger RNA) to make one protein from the germ, so the immune system learns to recognise it. Other vaccine types use a weakened live germ, a killed germ, a piece of the germ, or an inactivated toxin. vaccine types (HHS)

mRNA products licensed in the UK or US

• None of these mRNA products is on the routine childhood schedule in the UK. No viral-vector vaccine is among the products in this guide. (checked against the schedules in this guide, 22 Oct 2026)

mRNA and DNA: what the sources say

Official statements, independent studies and their stated limits, quoted from the linked sources. This guide takes no position.

The official position

• CDC: 'COVID-19 vaccines do not change or interact with your DNA in any way... The genetic material delivered by mRNA vaccines never enters the nucleus of your cells, which is where your DNA is kept.' source
• UK Green Book: 'mRNA is a natural component of the body, does not enter the nucleus and is processed entirely in the cytoplasm.' source
• FDA (Dec 2023): 'it is quite implausible that the residual small DNA fragments located in the cytosol could find their way into the nucleus through the nuclear membrane present in intact cells and then be incorporated into chromosomal DNA.' FDA adds that animal studies and data from 'hundreds of millions of individuals' show no evidence of genotoxicity (damage to DNA). source

Leftover (residual) plasmid DNA and the SV40 fragment

• How it gets there (FDA): the mRNA is made from a DNA template, which is then broken up with an enzyme (DNAse). The limit for leftover DNA fragments is 'less than three orders of magnitude lower than the quantity of the RNA dose by weight', checked by a validated qPCR test. source
• McKernan et al. (2023, preprint, not peer-reviewed) tested 4 bivalent vials (2 Pfizer, 2 Moderna) and report 'DNA contamination that exceeds the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 330ng/mg requirement and the FDAs 10ng/dose requirements'. McKernan and Dr Phillip Buckhaults then publicly raised the SV40 promoter/enhancer sequence in Pfizer's plasmid (as Health Canada later noted). source source 2
• Speicher, Rose and McKernan (2025, peer-reviewed, 32 vials from 16 lots in Ontario): by fluorometry, total DNA was above the regulatory limit in all vials; by qPCR (the regulators' method) 'all Moderna vials were within the regulatory limit, but 2/6 Pfizer lots (3 vials) exceeded the regulatory limit for the SV40 promoter-enhancer-ori by 2-fold'. The SV40 sequence was found only in Pfizer vials. source
• Kaiser et al. (2025, peer-reviewed, Frankfurt) tried to reproduce such claims with other methods and found DNA:RNA ratios of 1:1000, 'consistent with the specifications'. They say earlier high readings were 'a consequence of extraordinary high RNA and lipid concentrations' interfering with the test. source
• Health Canada: 'Although the full DNA sequence of the Pfizer plasmid was provided at the time of initial filing, the sponsor did not specifically identify the SV40 sequence.' source
• Health Canada: the vaccine contains no SV40 virus, only residual fragments of the SV40 promoter-enhancer, under 'strict quality limits'; 'Any claims that the presence of the SV40 promoter enhancer sequence is linked to an increased risk of cancer are unfounded.' source
• FDA: 'No SV40 proteins are encoded for or are present in the vaccines.' FDA says the 2007 plasmid-DNA guidance some critics cite 'was developed for DNA vaccines themselves, not for DNA as a contaminant in other vaccines'. source
• Limits of the evidence: the independent studies tested small numbers of vials (4 and 32). Speicher et al. argue that limits should consider 'increased LNP transfection efficiency' (DNA carried inside lipid nanoparticles gets into cells more easily) and 'cumulative dosing'. (summary by this guide of the sources above)

Aldén et al. 2022: reverse transcription in a lab dish

• Swedish researchers exposed a human liver cancer cell line (Huh7) to the Pfizer vaccine in a lab dish. They report that 'BNT162b2 mRNA is reverse transcribed intracellularly into DNA in as fast as 6 h', with changes in LINE-1 (the body's own enzyme that can copy RNA into DNA). source
• Limits the authors state: 'At this stage, we do not know if DNA reverse transcribed from BNT162b2 is integrated into the cell genome.' 'The cell model that we used in this study is a carcinoma cell line, with active DNA replication which differs from non-dividing somatic cells.' They call for further work 'both in vitro and in vivo', including 'tissues from human subjects who received BNT162b2'. A published comment (Merchant 2022) followed in the same journal. source source 2

Has anyone shown integration into human DNA in vaccinated people?

• One 2025 case report (one 31-year-old patient with bladder cancer, published in an Indian journal) claims 'the first documented evidence of genomic integration'. The evidence is a single 20-base sequence read in tumour DNA from the blood. The authors write that 'causality cannot be established from a single case' and call for 'orthogonal validation with long-read sequencing'. source
• No study has independently confirmed vaccine DNA built into the DNA of vaccinated people. Apart from the single case report above, no peer-reviewed study was found claiming this. No regulator (FDA, MHRA, EMA, Health Canada) reports such a finding. (search done 22 Oct 2026)

Manufacturers' legal record

Court cases, regulator findings and official penalties involving the companies that make products in this guide. Vaccine-related cases are listed first and in full, with each outcome as the record shows it, including cases that were dismissed or are unproven. Large non-vaccine fines are summarised afterwards. Wording follows the official record: "misleading claims found by [body]" appears only where that body made such a finding. This guide adds no judgement.

Who makes the products in this guide

• Makers are as named in each product's official leaflet, linked in the ingredients table. (checked against the leaflets in this guide)
• Johnson & Johnson/Janssen is included because its COVID-19 vaccine is part of the record below, although no J&J product is in the ingredients table. Valneva, Takeda and Bavarian Nordic make no product listed in this guide, so they are not covered. (note by this guide)
• Gaps: the licence holder of Konakion MM (UK vitamin K) and of Kostaive (zapomeran) were not confirmed, so those companies' records are not covered. (note by this guide)

Vaccine-related cases and findings

US law: vaccine makers' liability and injury compensation

• US National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act 1986: no vaccine maker is liable in a civil action 'if the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings'. source
• Claims for covered vaccines must first go to the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), not to court. source
• The Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that this bars design-defect claims (Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, above). source
• PREP Act: a declaration by the HHS Secretary gives makers and others immunity from liability for covered countermeasures, including COVID-19 vaccines, except for 'willful misconduct'. The only compensation route is the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). source source 2
• VICP payouts (HRSA data, as of the 1 Jan 2025 report): total outlays since 1988 of $5,323,056,559.90, including $4.78 billion paid to petitioners. Of 24,464 petitions adjudicated, 11,564 were compensated and 12,900 dismissed. source
• HRSA: 'Approximately 60% of all compensation awarded by the VICP comes as result of a negotiated settlement... in which HHS has not concluded... that the alleged vaccine(s) caused the alleged injury.' HRSA's latest monthly report is dated 1 Oct 2026; its PDF could not be downloaded for this guide, so the Jan 2025 totals are shown. source
• CICP, COVID-19 claims as of 1 Oct 2026: 14,250 filed (11,198 alleging vaccine injury), 8,369 decided, 120 found eligible and 66 compensated, with 8,249 denied. source

COVID-19 vaccine side effects: reassured, then confirmed (dated)

Only side effects that official bodies later confirmed are included. Each step is quoted from the linked source.

AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) and blood clots with low platelets (TTS)

• Reassurance 11 Mar 2021, EMA: 'There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.' The number of clotting events in vaccinated people was 'no higher than the number seen in the general population'. source
• Reassurance 11 Mar 2021, MHRA (quoted by BBC): no evidence the vaccine had caused the problems; 'Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon.' source
• Confirmed 7 Apr 2021, EMA: unusual blood clots with low platelets 'should be listed as very rare side effects'. The benefit-risk balance remained positive. source
• Confirmed 7 Apr 2021, MHRA: evidence of a link 'is stronger'; overall risk about 4 per million doses. JCVI advised offering under-30s an alternative where available. source source 2
• Admitted in court Feb 2024, UK court document: AstraZeneca accepted the vaccine 'can, in very rare cases, cause TTS', while disputing the claims. source
• Withdrawn Mar-May 2024: authorisations withdrawn. AstraZeneca's stated reason was 'a surplus of available updated vaccines' and declining demand; EMA records the reason as 'commercial reasons'. source source 2

mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) and myocarditis/pericarditis

• Early reports Late Apr 2021: Israel's Health Ministry was examining heart-inflammation reports after the Pfizer vaccine, and the US military was reviewing 14 cases after mRNA vaccines. source
• Reassurance 27 Apr 2021, CDC Director: 'We have not seen a signal and we've actually looked intentionally for the signal in the over 200 million doses we've given.' An FDA spokeswoman said FDA had not seen 'any safety signals for myocarditis'. source source 2
• Confirmed 23 Jun 2021, CDC advisers (ACIP): a 'likely association' of myocarditis with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in adolescents and young adults, mostly males after dose 2. The benefits were still judged to outweigh the risks (published in MMWR 9 Jul 2021). source
• Confirmed 25 Jun 2021, FDA: warnings of increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis added to the Pfizer and Moderna fact sheets. source
• Confirmed 9 Jul 2021, EMA: myocarditis and pericarditis 'can occur in very rare cases' after Comirnaty and Spikevax, to be listed as side effects. source
• Which vaccines: the confirmations above name the two mRNA vaccines. For Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) and the Janssen vaccine, EMA said 'no causal relationship with myocarditis or pericarditis could be established' at that time. source

Large non-vaccine fines and settlements (summary)

Totals per company, $100 million+ items only (calculated by this guide from the items below)

• None of these fines or settlements was about a vaccine. (checked against each linked release)
• The list covers fines and settlements of $100 million or more found in official DOJ releases (plus one Chinese court fine reported by Reuters, and one state attorneys-general settlement). It is not exhaustive. IRS tax settlements and private lawsuits (e.g. patent disputes) are excluded. Violation Tracker is a database for a fuller list. source
• No fines or settlements of $100 million or more from official bodies were found for Moderna, BioNTech or CSL Seqirus. (searched 22 Oct 2026)
• Totals add nominal US dollars from different years, not adjusted for inflation. J&J's opioid figure is a maximum payable over time. ((calculated by this guide))

Ingredients by product

Vaccine type filter: All products mRNA only Not mRNA

Ingredients other than the active part (the germ or toxin component). Taken from archived copies of official leaflets dated 2020 or earlier where one exists, with differences from today's version noted. Products with no archive from 2020 or earlier are marked. Vaccine type uses the HHS categories definitions; each product's type is as stated in its official leaflet linked in the right-hand column.

Schedules

How the schedule has changed

The full routine childhood schedule (birth to 18) at several points in time, in the UK and the US, taken from official schedules or archived copies. Each count below is this guide's own arithmetic from the linked schedule. Full schedules are in the expandable boxes further down.

How this guide counts

• Diseases: each disease named on the schedule counts once. All meningococcal groups (B, C, ACWY) count as one disease, "meningococcal".
• Disease doses (the headline count): each dose is counted once for each disease it covers. A 6-in-1 counts as 6, MMRV as 4, the pre-school 4-in-1 as 4, MMR, DTaP and the teenage 3-in-1 as 3, Hib/MenC as 2, and a single vaccine as 1. This is how the NVIC flyer reaches its totals (see below).
• Injections (shots): doses given by needle. Oral polio, oral rotavirus and the UK nasal flu spray are not injections. Visits means the separate ages listed on that schedule. It does not include yearly flu visits.
• Products given: each time a product is given counts as 1, so a combination counts once. Shown as a secondary column because some widely quoted figures use it.
• Flu and COVID-19 are not in the main columns. They are shown separately, "with flu" and "with flu and COVID-19". US flu is assumed to be 19 doses: one each season from 6 months to 17 years (18 seasons), plus a second dose in the first season. US COVID-19 for January 2025 is assumed to be 19 doses: 2 in the first season (Moderna 2-dose start), then 1 a year. UK flu uses the eligible school years (9 seasons in 2019/20; 14 now). These are the guide's assumptions; the true number depends on birth date and product.
• Where a vaccine was for one sex only (UK rubella in 1983 and 1992; HPV in 2010 in both countries), counts are for a girl.
• Vaccines only for high-risk groups, or left to "shared clinical decision-making", are listed but not counted. The RSV antibody (nirsevimab) is not a vaccine and is not counted.

All counts in this section are the guide's own arithmetic, recalculated by the build script from the linked schedules.

routine disease doses yearly flu (assumed) COVID-19 (assumed). Bars show disease doses. Guide's own arithmetic.

Widely quoted figures: which counting method they match

• NVIC's flyer reports "24 DOSES OF 7 VACCINES BY AGE 18" for 1983 and "69 DOSES OF 16 VACCINES BY AGE 18" for 2017 source. 1983: the disease-dose count gives 24 (DTP 5x3 + OPV 4 + MMR 1x3 + Td 1x2). 69: the disease-dose count with flu gives 69 for the 2010 and 2020 schedules (no 2017 schedule was checked).
• A complaint hosted by Children's Health Defense reports a rise "from 11 doses targeting four diseases in 1983, to over 72 doses targeting 18 diseases" source; see also the '72-dose' article. 11 matches the products-given count for 1983. 'Four' matches the number of vaccines in 1983 (DTP, OPV, MMR, Td), not diseases: those vaccines cover 7. 72 matches the products-given count for January 2025 with flu and COVID-19 under this guide's assumptions (34 + 19 + 19). With the RSV antibody, that schedule covers 18 diseases. The complaint does not show its own tally, so the match may be a coincidence.
• "12 in the 80s": matches the products-given count for the 1989 US schedule (DTP 5, OPV 4, MMR 1, Hib 1, Td 1 = 12). source
• "70+ today": matches the products-given count with flu and COVID-19 for January 2025 (72), or the disease-dose count with flu (69). Without flu or COVID-19, the figures are 50 disease doses and 34 products given; with flu and COVID-19, 88 disease doses.
• "30+ after the US cut": for the stayed January 2026 schedule, counting only vaccines for all children: 39 disease doses and 23 products given. So '30+' fits the disease-dose count, not the products-given count. HHS reports that the end-2024 schedule "recommended 17 immunizations for all children" source. CRS reports that 4 of the 19 vaccines on the 2025 schedule were high-risk or shared decision-making only, against 9 of 17 on the 2026 schedule source.

Full schedules

What's coming, visit by visit (child born now)

For a child born on 22 October 2026, from the schedules in force. Each vaccine links to its ingredient entry in this guide; that entry links to the official leaflet.

Definitions: how "vaccine" was defined, then and now

Disease doses (this guide's counting term): each dose of a vaccine counts once for every disease it covers. A 6-in-1 (DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB) counts as 6, MMRV as 4, the pre-school 4-in-1 (dTaP/IPV) as 4, MMR, DTaP and the teenage 3-in-1 (Td/IPV) as 3, Hib/MenC as 2, and a single-disease vaccine as 1. All meningococcal groups count as one disease, so MenACWY counts as 1. Injections are the number of shots. Products given counts each combination once. Used in How the schedule has changed.

About this data

• Every figure links to its source. Most are official government health agencies (UKHSA/NHS, CDC), medicine regulators (EMA, MHRA via emc, FDA) or major peer-reviewed studies.
• Counts are reported cases unless marked 'estimated'. UK figures are often England-only.
• 'Share of cases that were unvaccinated' is not the same as risk; it depends on how many people in the population are vaccinated.
• Pre-vaccine figures come from older reporting systems and are not exactly comparable with modern surveillance.
• Items marked GAP or UNVERIFIED need checking before publication.
• This page gives no advice and takes no position. For decisions about your own family, read the linked documents and speak to a clinician you trust.
• Compiled 2026-10-22. Figures change; check the linked source for the latest version.