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

Diseases

Measles

A very contagious virus causing fever and rash; can cause pneumonia and brain swelling.

How common now (UK)	2025 958 lab-confirmed cases in England in 2025 (2,911 in 2024). 3 measles-related deaths registered in England & Wales in 2025 (1 acute child death in a child with an immune problem; 2 adult late effects). source
How common now (US)	2025 2,289 confirmed cases in 2025 (incl. 26 international visitors); 3 deaths. (CDC's NNDSS summary table gives 1,975 for 2025 - different counting.) source
How often it kills	1 to 3 of every 1,000 children with measles die (US). source
Treatment if caught	No specific antiviral. Supportive care; CDC advises vitamin A for children with measles. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	US 2025: 93% of cases unvaccinated or unknown status, 3% one MMR dose, 4% two doses. source England Jan-Mar 2025: 226 confirmed cases. 'Six cases (2.7%) had been previously vaccinated with one dose of the MMR vaccine and 5 (2.2%) with at least two doses.' source About 95% of children develop antibodies after one dose at 12 months, over 99% after two doses. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average: 530,217 reported cases (estimated true 3-4 million/yr) vs 1,975 reported in 2025. source pre-vaccine England & Wales 1940-1967 (before vaccine, 1968): typically 160,000-760,000 notifications and 30-1,100 deaths a year; e.g. 1967: 460,407 notifications, 99 deaths. source
Products (see ingredients)	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) M-M-R II (MMR) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)

Share-of-cases figures do not on their own give the risk for a vaccinated vs unvaccinated person (that needs the size of each group).

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Mumps

A virus that swells the salivary glands; can cause deafness, meningitis, swollen testicles.

How common now (UK)	2024 152 lab-confirmed cases in England in 2024. source
How common now (US)	2025 336 reported cases in 2025. source
How often it kills	'Permanent sequelae and death are very rare in both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.' (no numeric CFR given) source
Treatment if caught	No specific treatment; NHS: 'Mumps usually gets better without treatment within 2 weeks.' source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Vaccine effectiveness: 78% (one dose), 88% (two doses). source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 162,344 cases vs 336 in 2025 (>99% decrease). source
Products (see ingredients)	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) M-M-R II (MMR) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)

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Rubella (German measles)

Usually mild in children, but infection in early pregnancy can cause miscarriage or serious birth defects (congenital rubella syndrome).

How common now (UK)	2024 No lab-confirmed rubella cases in England in 2024. source
How common now (US)	2025 0 rubella cases and 1 congenital rubella syndrome case reported in 2025. source
How often it kills	Main harm is congenital rubella syndrome (deafness, eye defects, heart disease); risk highest in first 12 weeks of pregnancy. No CFR given. source
Treatment if caught	No specific antiviral treatment for rubella (CDC). source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	At least 95% develop immunity after one dose; >90% protected against clinical rubella for at least 15 years. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 47,745 rubella cases and 152 CRS cases vs 0 and 1 in 2025. source
Products (see ingredients)	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) M-M-R II (MMR) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)

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Chickenpox (varicella)

Itchy blister rash, usually mild in children; can cause skin infections, pneumonia, brain swelling. Now routine in UK (MMRV from Jan 2026) and US.

How common now (UK)	2004-2017 Not a notifiable disease in England, so no case count. England averaged 4,694 varicella hospital admissions/year (2004-2017); an earlier analysis estimated 18.5 deaths/year (2004-2013). source source 2
How common now (US)	2022 34,238 cases (2022, provisional). source
How often it kills	About 1 per 100,000 cases in children 1-14; 6 per 100,000 aged 15-19; 21 per 100,000 in adults (pre-vaccine US data). Newborns whose mother has chickenpox around delivery: up to 30% if antivirals not given. source
Treatment if caught	Usually supportive; antivirals (e.g. acyclovir) for severe disease/high-risk people. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	1 dose: 82% effective vs any chickenpox, 98% vs severe; 2 doses: 92% vs any chickenpox. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2022 US pre-vaccine estimate 4,085,120 cases/yr vs 34,238 (2022): 99% decrease; ~10,500 hospitalisations/yr pre-vaccine. source
Products (see ingredients)	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) Varivax (chickenpox)

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Whooping cough (pertussis)

Bacterial infection with long coughing fits; most dangerous for babies under 6 months.

How common now (UK)	2024 14,879 lab-confirmed cases in England in 2024 (highest since 1994); 11 infant deaths. source
How common now (US)	2024 35,435 cases in 2024 (provisional) with 10 deaths (6 infants); 28,132 reported in 2025. source source 2
How often it kills	US 2000-2017: 307 deaths; pneumonia in 13.2% of all cases and 18.6% of infants <6 months. No single CFR given. source US 2024: infants <6 months had the highest hospitalisation rate (33.4%). source
Treatment if caught	Mainly supportive; antibiotics (azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin) help most if started early and reduce spread. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Vaccination in pregnancy (England): 91.5% effective vs infant death, 88.2% vs hospitalisation, 84.6% vs confirmed disease in infants <3 months. source England: 26 of 32 infant deaths since 2013 were in babies whose mothers were not vaccinated in pregnancy. source Infant DTaP efficacy 80-85% (trials). source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 200,752 cases vs 28,132 in 2025 (86% decrease). source
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) Daptacel (DTaP) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) Boostrix (Tdap) Adacel (Tdap)

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Diphtheria

Bacterial throat infection whose toxin can block airways and damage heart and nerves.

How common now (UK)	2024 England 2024: 2 toxigenic C. diphtheriae cases (+10 C. ulcerans), no deaths. source
How common now (US)	2025 0 cases in 2025. source
How often it kills	Overall case fatality 5-10%. source
Treatment if caught	Diphtheria antitoxin plus antibiotics. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Toxoid vaccine efficacy estimated at 97%. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 21,053 cases vs 0 in 2025. source
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Daptacel (DTaP) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) Boostrix (Tdap) Adacel (Tdap)

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Tetanus (lockjaw)

Not caught from people - bacteria in soil enter wounds; toxin causes painful muscle spasms.

How common now (UK)	2024 England 2024: 6 cases, 2 deaths. source
How common now (US)	2025 37 cases in 2025. source
How often it kills	About 11% of recent US cases fatal; highest in people 60+ and the unvaccinated. source
Treatment if caught	Wound cleaning; tetanus immune globulin (TIG); supportive care and airway management for spasms. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Never tested in a trial; inferred from antibody levels to be almost 100% effective after a full series. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 580 cases vs 37 in 2025. source
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Daptacel (DTaP) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) Boostrix (Tdap) Adacel (Tdap)

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Polio

Virus spread through faeces; most infections are mild but some cause permanent paralysis.

How common now (UK)	2022 No paralytic cases. In 2022, vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was found in London sewage. source
How common now (US)	2025 0 paralytic cases reported in 2025. source
How often it kills	Paralytic polio: 2-5% of children and 15-30% of adolescents/adults die. source
Treatment if caught	WHO: 'There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented.' source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	IPV: 90%+ immune after 2 doses, at least 99% after 3. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US 20th-century annual average 16,316 paralytic cases (21,000+ in 1952) vs 0 in 2025. source
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) IPOL (polio, IPV)

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Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)

Bacteria causing meningitis, blood infection and throat swelling, mainly in under-5s.

How common now (UK)	2024 15 lab-confirmed invasive Hib cases in England in 2024 (none in infants); 2 adult deaths. source
How common now (US)	2025 21 Hib cases in children <5 in 2025 (+ ~7 estimated among unknown serotype). source
How often it kills	Hib meningitis: 3-6% die even with treatment (pre-vaccine era data). source
Treatment if caught	Hospital treatment with antibiotics, usually 10 days. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Clinical efficacy 95-100%; invasive Hib down >99% since pre-vaccine era. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2025 US: ~1 in 200 children under 5 developed invasive Hib; ~20,000 cases/yr vs 21 in 2025. source source 2
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) ActHIB (Hib) Hiberix (Hib) PedvaxHIB (Hib)

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Hepatitis B

Blood-borne liver virus; babies infected at birth usually become lifelong carriers, risking cirrhosis and liver cancer.

How common now (UK)	2022 239 acute hepatitis B diagnoses reported in England in 2022 (average 342 a year, 2015-2022); ~268,767 people living with chronic hep B (0.58%, 2021 estimate); 0.4% of pregnant women screened positive (2023-24). source source 2
How common now (US)	2023 2,214 reported acute cases in 2023 (estimated 14,400 infections). source
How often it kills	Up to 90% of infants infected at birth become chronically infected; 30-50% if infected age 1-5; ~5% in adults. source
Treatment if caught	Acute: supportive. Chronic: monitoring and antiviral medicines. Babies of infected mothers get vaccine plus hepatitis B immune globulin at birth. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Over 90% of infants, children, teenagers and healthy adults under 40 make protective antibodies after the full series; 80-100% effective at preventing infection or clinical hepatitis. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2021 US pre-vaccine estimate 66,232 acute cases/yr vs 13,300 (2021 estimate): 80% decrease. source
Products (see ingredients)	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis Engerix-B (hep B) Recombivax HB (hep B) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV)

UK gives the birth dose only to babies of mothers with hep B; US birth-dose policy was changed in Dec 2025 then restored by court order in March 2026.

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Hepatitis A

Liver virus spread through contaminated food/water or close contact; usually mild in young children. Routine in US only.

How common now (UK)	2024 Not on UK routine schedule. 889 new lab-confirmed acute hepatitis A cases in England and Wales in 2024 (496 in 2023). source
How common now (US)	2023 1,648 reported cases in 2023 (estimated 3,300 infections); 85 hepatitis A-related deaths. source
How often it kills	0.3-0.6% overall; up to 1.8% in adults 50+. source
Treatment if caught	No specific treatment; supportive. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Havrix: 94% efficacy (40,000 children, Thailand); Vaqta: 100% (1,000 children, New York). source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2021 US pre-vaccine estimate 117,333 cases/yr vs 11,500 (2021 estimate). source
Products (see ingredients)	Havrix (hep A) Vaqta (hep A)

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Meningococcal group B (MenB)

Bacteria causing meningitis and blood poisoning (sepsis); can kill within hours.

How common now (UK)	2023-24 England 2023-24: 341 invasive meningococcal cases, 301 (88%) group B; 8 deaths (provisional CFR 2.3%). source
How common now (US)	2023 437 meningococcal cases (all groups) in 2023, 0.13 per 100,000; CFR 10.5%. MenB is not routine for all US children (shared decision, age 16-23). source
How often it kills	Overall CFR 10-15% even with antibiotics; up to 20% of survivors have lasting damage (hearing loss, brain damage, limb loss). source
Treatment if caught	Emergency antibiotics (e.g. ceftriaxone, penicillin) in hospital. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Bexsero in England: early estimate 82.9% effective after 2 doses (study reports range up to 94.2%). source
Products (see ingredients)	Bexsero (MenB) Trumenba (MenB) Penbraya (MenABCWY)

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Meningococcal groups A, C, W, Y

Same illness as above, other strains; teenage MenACWY dose in both countries.

How common now (UK)	2023-24 Included in the 341 England cases above (non-B groups ~12%). source
How common now (US)	2023 2023: group Y caused 230 of 437 cases; CFR for group Y 9.6%. source
How often it kills	Overall CFR 10-15%. source
Treatment if caught	Emergency antibiotics. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	US adolescents (MenACWY-D): 69% overall effectiveness, waning from 79% (<1 year) to 61% (3-8 years). source
Products (see ingredients)	MenQuadfi (MenACWY) Menveo (MenACWY) Penbraya (MenABCWY)

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Pneumococcal disease

Bacteria causing pneumonia, ear infections, blood infection and meningitis.

How common now (UK)	2022-23 England 2022-23: 4,598 lab-confirmed invasive cases; 378 in children under 15. source source 2
How common now (US)	2021 Invasive disease 2021 estimate: 17,400 all ages; ~900 in children under 5. source
How often it kills	Bacteremia ~12%; pneumococcal meningitis ~14% in adults; bacteremic pneumonia ~10%. source
Treatment if caught	Antibiotics. CDC: some strains resist one or more antibiotics, which 'can lead to treatment failures'. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	PCV13 in adults 65+ (trial): 75% efficacy vs vaccine-type invasive disease. source US under-5 invasive disease: 16,069/yr pre-vaccine vs ~900 now (94% fall). source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine vs 2021 US pre-vaccine estimate 63,067 invasive cases/yr (all ages) vs 17,400 (2021); under 5: 16,069 vs 900; ~200 child deaths/yr pre-vaccine. source source 2
Products (see ingredients)	Prevenar 13 / Prevnar 13 (PCV13) Vaxneuvance (PCV15) Prevnar 20 / Prevenar 20 (PCV20)

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Rotavirus

Stomach bug causing severe diarrhoea and vomiting in babies; dehydration is the danger.

How common now (UK)	2023-24 3,199 positive lab reports in England, 2023-24 season (to 30 June 2024). source
How common now (US)	2022 ~18,400 hospitalisations in children <3 (2022 estimate). source
How often it kills	US pre-vaccine: 20-60 deaths/yr in children <5 (55,000-70,000 hospitalisations); deaths rare in high-income countries. source
Treatment if caught	Supportive: fluids/rehydration; keep feeding. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	US: 84% (RotaTeq) and 83% (Rotarix) effective vs ER visit or hospitalisation. source England: 77-88% fewer infant infections in 5 years after vaccine introduction (2013). source
Before vaccines vs now	pre vs post vaccine England & Wales lab reports: 14,950 in 2013 (pre-vaccine) vs 2,705 in 2016. source pre-vaccine vs 2022 US: 62,500 hospitalisations/yr (<3 years) pre-vaccine vs 18,400 (2022). source
Products (see ingredients)	Rotarix (rotavirus, oral) RotaTeq (rotavirus, oral)

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HPV (human papillomavirus)

Very common sexually transmitted virus; some types cause cervical and other cancers and genital warts.

How common now (UK)	2019-2024 3,299 new cervical cancer cases a year (2019, 2021-22) and 880 deaths a year (2022-24), UK. source
How common now (US)	recent annual estimate About 49,908 HPV-associated cancers a year, incl. 12,287 cervical (≈11,100 attributable to HPV). source
How often it kills	Not applicable as a single figure - infection usually clears; harm is cancer years later. source
Treatment if caught	No treatment for the infection itself; warts, pre-cancers and cancers are treated. Screening prevents most cervical cancers. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	England: 87% lower cervical cancer in women offered vaccine at 12-13 vs unvaccinated cohorts (97% lower CIN3). source source 2 US: within 10 years, vaccine-type HPV prevalence down 86% in females 14-19. source
Before vaccines vs now	pre-vaccine US pre-vaccine (2003-06): an estimated 79 million infected; 14 million new infections/yr. source
Products (see ingredients)	Gardasil 9 (HPV)

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Flu (influenza)

Seasonal respiratory virus; most serious in the very old, very young and people with health conditions.

How common now (UK)	2024-25 Estimated 53 flu-related deaths in children under 18 in England, 2024-25 season (35 in 2023-24). source
How common now (US)	2024-25 280 flu-associated child deaths in 2024-25 season. Annual deaths, all ages: 12,447-61,099 (2010-2019 seasons). source source 2
How often it kills	Varies widely by season and age; most deaths in people 65+. source
Treatment if caught	Antiviral medicines (e.g. oseltamivir) for some patients; supportive care. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	US 2024-25: of 208 child deaths with known status (age 6 months+), 89% were not fully vaccinated. source Vaccine effectiveness 19-60% (2010-11 to 2018-19 seasons), varying by strain match. source
Products (see ingredients)	Fluenz Tetra (2020) / Fluenz (current, nasal flu) Fluzone Trivalent 2026-27 (flu injection) Fluarix 2026-27 (flu injection) FluLaval 2026-27 (flu injection) Flucelvax 2026-27 (flu injection, cell-grown) Flublok 2026-27 (flu injection, recombinant) FluMist 2026-27 (nasal spray, live) Afluria (flu injection)

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COVID-19

Respiratory virus. UK offers the vaccine only to at-risk groups; US lists it as 'shared clinical decision-making' for children.

How common now (UK)	2020-21 Not on UK routine childhood schedule. England, Mar 2020-Feb 2021: 25 deaths of under-18s were due to COVID-19 (of 61 who died with a positive test), out of 12.0 million children. source
How common now (US)	2024-25 187 COVID deaths in under-18s (July 2024-June 2025). Highest child hospitalisation rate in infants <6 months: 285.6 per 100,000. source
How often it kills	England under-18s, Mar 2020-Feb 2021 (wild-type and Alpha variants): infection fatality rate about 5 per 100,000 infected (0.005%); 99.995% of those with a positive test survived. source US: GAP - no case-fatality rate for children found in a primary source.
Treatment if caught	Antivirals for people at high risk of severe illness: Paxlovid (age 12+), remdesivir (adults and children), molnupiravir (adults), started within 5-7 days of symptoms. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	US infants <6 months hospitalised Oct 2022-Apr 2024: 87.5% had mothers not vaccinated in pregnancy; all 9 in-hospital deaths were in that group (share of cases, not a risk ratio). source
Products (see ingredients)	Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, mRNA) Spikevax (Moderna COVID-19, mRNA)

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RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)

Common winter virus; can cause bronchiolitis and breathing trouble in babies. Protected by a vaccine in pregnancy (UK and US) or an antibody shot for babies (US).

How common now (UK)	pre-2024 / 2025-26 Before the vaccine: about 30,000 hospitalisations of under-5s a year in the UK and 20-30 infant deaths. 2025-26: 50% fewer infants under 6 months in intensive care with RSV in England than the season before. source source 2
How common now (US)	annual estimate 58,000-80,000 RSV hospitalisations a year in children under 5. source source 2
How often it kills	UK: 20-30 infant deaths a year (pre-vaccine); no case-fatality rate published. US: GAP - no annual RSV death count or CFR for children found in a primary source. source
Treatment if caught	Supportive care; CDC: most hospitalised patients 'improve with supportive care and are discharged in a few days'. source
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Nirsevimab (antibody): 90% effective vs RSV hospitalisation in infants' first season (early estimate). source Maternal Abrysvo (UK, 2024-25): 58% effective vs infant RSV hospitalisation, 72% if given >14 days before birth. source source 2 UK 2025-26: 61% effective vs hospital admission in infants up to 6 months, 76% up to 3 months. source US infants 0-7 months: RSV hospitalisation rate 43% lower in 2024-25 than 2018-20. source
Products (see ingredients)	Abrysvo (RSV, given in pregnancy) Beyfortus (nirsevimab) - monoclonal antibody, not a vaccine Enflonsia (clesrovimab) - monoclonal antibody, not a vaccine

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Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (not a vaccine)

Babies are born low in vitamin K; rarely this causes bleeding, sometimes in the brain. The birth injection is vitamin K, not a vaccine.

How common now (UK)	About 1 in 8,500 babies without vitamin K (secondary source quoting NHS). source
How common now (US)	Late VKDB: 4.4 to 7.2 per 100,000 infants without vitamin K. source
How often it kills	No UK or US death rate found. Egypt, 5-year study of 47 infants with late VKDB: 11 died (23%). Small study, not UK/US. source
Treatment if caught	UNVERIFIED: vitamin K and emergency hospital care (no primary treatment source compiled).
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated	Infants without the vitamin K shot are 81 times more likely to develop late VKDB. source
Products (see ingredients)	Konakion MM Paediatric (vitamin K1, phytomenadione) - NOT a vaccine Vitamin K1 injection (phytonadione, Hospira) - NOT a vaccine

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Newborn vitamin D (a supplement, not a vaccine)

Vitamin D drops (usually cholecalciferol, vitamin D3) are advised for breastfed babies from birth, to prevent rickets. Shown here next to vitamin K, the other newborn supplement in this guide.

What is given, and how

• NHS advises that breastfed babies "should be given a daily vitamin D supplement from birth, whether or not you're taking a supplement containing vitamin D yourself". NHS says the drops can be bought "at pharmacies and supermarkets". source source 2
• The UK Healthy Start leaflet says its drops "should be given by mouth (orally)", 5 drops once daily. source
• NIH ODS reports that supplements contain vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) or D3 (cholecalciferol); D3 "is typically produced with irradiation of 7-dehydrocholesterol from lanolin obtained from the wool of sheep", and a lichen-sourced D3 also exists. source
• The Australasian Neonatal Medicines Formulary lists two routes for newborn colecalciferol, oral and intramuscular. Its prevention dose is 400 units a day by mouth. Intramuscular use is listed for treating rickets: "If oral administration is difficult, consider intramuscular vitamin D3 100,000 units (colecalciferol 2.5 mg) every 3 months (3 doses)." The injectable product it names holds 600,000 units per mL. source
• The 2016 global consensus on rickets describes "stoss therapy" as "the administration of a large dose given as a single dose or in divided doses over several days". It recommends daily treatment first but says "in some situations, stoss therapy may be more practical". On route, it says: "We recommend oral treatment, which more rapidly restores 25OHD levels than IM treatment." These are treatment doses for rickets, not routine newborn doses. source
• Thailand: a 2021 Thai trial reports that "routine vitamin D supplementation for exclusively breastfed infants has not been widely practiced" in Thailand and that "the local healthcare authorities have not established a national consensus". It also says no infant vitamin D-only product was on sale in Thailand when the study was done, so it used a multivitamin drop. source
• A 2024 Bangkok study states: "in Thailand, no advice for routine vitamin D supplementation is available." source
• GAP: this guide found no published source saying that Thai hospitals routinely give vitamin D as an injection on the day of birth, and no national Thai policy saying so. Practice may vary by hospital. The product name and dose on a baby's hospital discharge record would show what was given.

Recommended dose and why (UK and US)

• UK (NHS / Department of Health and Social Care): babies from birth to 1 year who are breastfed "should be given a daily supplement containing 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D". Babies having more than 500ml of infant formula a day should not be given one, because formula is already fortified. source
• NICE CKS gives the same UK dose in units: 8.5-10 micrograms is 340-400 international units (IU) a day. (1 microgram = 40 IU.) source source 2
• US (AAP): "Vitamin D supplements of 400 IU (10 mcg) per day are recommended for babies up until age one year." source
• CDC: the AAP and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans "recommend that breastfed and partially breastfed infants receive 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin D daily beginning in the first few days of life." source
• Why: the AAP's clinical report is titled "Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents". CDC states that vitamin D "helps prevent rickets, a condition that causes weak or deformed bones." source source 2
• NHS describes rickets as a condition caused by a lack of vitamin D or calcium; it says the main symptom is bowed legs. source
• The 2016 global consensus states: "400 IU/d (10 μg) is adequate to prevent rickets and is recommended for all infants from birth to 12 months of age, independent of their mode of feeding." source
• How common rickets is: NIH ODS reports 24.1 cases per 100,000 children under 3 in one Minnesota county (2000s), mainly in breastfed Black children, and 2.9 per 100,000 children under 7 in Canada (2002-2004), where "almost all patients with rickets had been breastfed". source

Ingredients in the drops (from manufacturers' leaflets and labels)

• Enfamil D-Vi-Sol (US): 10 mcg (400 IU) vitamin D per 1 mL. Other ingredients: "Glycerin, water, polysorbate 80 (emulsifier), citric acid (antioxidant for vitamin D), natural flavor, sodium citrate." source
• Baby Ddrops: 400 IU per drop, "made with only two naturally sourced ingredients, pure vitamin D3 and organic fractionated coconut oil". The maker states it is free from preservatives. source
• Healthy Start children's vitamin drops (UK government scheme): 5 drops contain vitamin D 7.5 micrograms (300 IU), vitamin A 233 micrograms and vitamin C 20 mg. Other ingredients: "water, glycerol, polysorbate 80, banana flavour, alpha-tocopherol, Medium Chain Triglycerides." (This leaflet was last approved in 05/2018.) source
• The ANMF notes that some vitamin D preparations contain sodium benzoate, and advises: "Avoid exposure to sodium benzoate of >99 mg/kg/day in neonates." source
• The Thai trial used Munti-Vim multivitamin drops (B.L. Hua, Bangkok), with 400 IU vitamin D3 per mL plus vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, nicotinamide and dexpanthenol. source

Cholecalciferol as a rat poison (EPA)

• US EPA: "Cholecalciferol is vitamin D3, which in small dosages is needed for good health in most mammals, but in massive doses is toxic, especially to rodents." source
• EPA's label database lists Cholecalciferol Blox (EPA Reg. No. 12455-162), a registered rat and mouse bait, with cholecalciferol at 0.075% as the active ingredient. source
• An EPA risk assessment memo states that cholecalciferol works as a rodenticide by mobilising "calcium from bones into the blood plasma causing hypercalcemia". The same memo notes that it is a nutrient permitted as a food additive and is generally recognised as safe as a dietary supplement "within specific limitations". source
• NPIC reports that cholecalciferol was first registered as a rodenticide in the US in 1984. "The body's ability to maintain proper calcium levels must be overwhelmed before cholecalciferol becomes toxic. Rodents must eat several doses." It adds that "poisonings of people are very rare." source
• This guide's own arithmetic 0.075% means 0.75 mg of cholecalciferol per gram of bait, which is 750 micrograms, or 30,000 IU. One infant daily dose is 10 micrograms (400 IU). So 1 gram of bait holds about 75 infant daily doses, and one infant daily dose equals the vitamin D in about 13 mg of bait. source source 2
• This guide's own arithmetic Concentration compared: D-Vi-Sol has 10 micrograms per mL. The bait (750 micrograms per gram) is about 75 times as concentrated, taking 1 mL as about 1 gram. The newborn injection product named by the ANMF (600,000 units/mL = 15 mg/mL) is about 20 times as concentrated as the bait. The effect depends on the total amount swallowed or injected, not on concentration alone. source source 2

Too much vitamin D in infants: evidence, warnings and recalls

• Upper limits: NIH ODS gives the US upper intake level as 1,000 IU (25 mcg) a day for 0-6 months and 1,500 IU (38 mcg) for 7-12 months. NHS says infants under 12 months "should not have more than 25 micrograms (1,000 IU) a day". source source 2
• NIH ODS: too much vitamin D causes high blood calcium, which can lead to nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, dehydration and kidney stones, and in extreme cases kidney failure, heart rhythm problems and death. It says toxicity has been caused by supplements with excess vitamin D "because of manufacturing errors", supplements taken in excessive amounts, and wrong prescriptions. It also says too much sun does not cause vitamin D toxicity. source
• The ANMF reports that 1,600 units/day of vitamin D3 "produced vitamin D toxicity (hypercalcaemia and 25OH vitamin D >250 nmol/L) in 94% of healthy, term, breastfed infants" in the study it cites, and that a single 600,000-unit dose in infants "produced prolonged vitamin D excess and transient hypercalcaemia, whereas doses of 100,000 to 200,000 units every 3 months did not." source
• In a stoss-therapy study cited by the 2016 consensus, 56 Turkish children aged 3-36 months were given single oral doses of 150,000, 300,000 or 600,000 IU, and eight developed high blood calcium (two in the 300,000 group, six in the 600,000 group). source
• 2010 FDA, June 2010: FDA had seen "an increase in the number of liquid vitamin D dietary supplements being marketed that could lead to infants receiving an unsafe amount of vitamin D", because droppers could hold more than an infant should get. It recommended that droppers for infant products "hold no more than 400 units". source
• 2024 Recall, February 2024 (FDA notice): Nordic Naturals recalled one lot (234909) of Baby's Vitamin D3 Liquid, about 3,800 units, after "a manufacturing error that resulted in an elevated level of Vitamin D3 dosage". The company reported no adverse events at that time. source
• Case report (US): a 3-month-old was given 1 mL a day of a new product that held 400 IU per drop rather than per mL. That came to 12,000 IU a day, a 30-fold overdose, for 20 days. The authors say the infant was "clinically stable with no symptoms" when the error was found. source
• 2023 France (ANSES, 2023): ANSES received three reports in 2022 of severe high blood calcium in infants who were given internet-bought food supplements containing 5,000-10,000 IU per drop, in one case 40,000 IU a day. The reports included kidney calcium deposits (nephrocalcinosis) and, in one infant, an ECG abnormality. ANSES advises against replacing medicinal vitamin D with a food supplement. source
• 2022 Case report (France, 2022): a 3-month-old developed severe high blood calcium after the parents, on a midwife's advice, swapped the prescribed medicinal vitamin D for a "natural" dietary supplement of a different concentration. source

Natural sources, D2 versus D3, and breast milk

• Sunlight: NIH ODS explains that UVB light (about 290-320 nm) on bare skin turns 7-dehydrocholesterol into previtamin D3, which becomes vitamin D3. UVB does not pass through glass. source
• NIH ODS reports that the AAP advises keeping infants under 6 months out of direct sunlight. NHS says: "Young children should still have vitamin drops, even if they get out in the sun." source source 2
• A Bangkok study of 109 exclusively breastfed 4-month-olds found 35.78% vitamin D deficient and 33.03% insufficient. Their "sun index showed no correlation with the 25-OH vitamin D level". source
• Foods (NIH ODS table, per serving): farmed rainbow trout, 3 oz cooked: 645 IU; sockeye salmon, 3 oz cooked: 570 IU; one large egg: 44 IU ("Vitamin D is in the yolk"); white mushrooms exposed to UV light, ½ cup: 366 IU (vitamin D2); ordinary portabella mushrooms, ½ cup: 4 IU. source
• D2 versus D3: Tripkovic 2012 (meta-analysis) concluded that "vitamin D3 is more efficacious at raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations than is vitamin D2". The difference was significant with a bolus dose, "but the effect was lost with daily supplementation". The authors said effects "across age, sex, and ethnicity" could not be checked. source
• The 2016 global consensus states: "For daily treatment, both D2 and D3 are equally effective" and "When single large doses are used, D3 appears to be preferable compared to D2 because the former has a longer half-life." NIH ODS says the two forms "seem to have equivalent ability to cure rickets". source source 2
• Breast milk: NIH ODS states that "consumption of human milk alone does not ordinarily enable infants to meet vitamin D requirements, because it provides less than 0.6 to 2.0 mcg/L (25 to 78 IU/L)", and that the level depends on the mother's vitamin D status. CDC: "Breast milk alone does not provide infants with enough vitamin D." source source 2
• This guide's own arithmetic At the top of that range (78 IU per litre), a baby would need to drink more than 5 litres of breast milk a day to get 400 IU. source
• Mother's supplements: NIH ODS reports that breast milk from mothers taking at least 2,000 IU of D3 a day has higher levels, and CDC says families can discuss maternal high-dose supplements with a provider. The 2016 consensus recommends: "Lactating women should not take high amounts of vitamin D as a means of supplementing their infant." source source 2

↑ all 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.

Aluminium salts (adjuvants)

Why it is used	Added as an adjuvant, 'a substance added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response'; forms used include aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, alum and mixed salts. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis Bexsero (MenB) Prevenar 13 / Prevnar 13 (PCV13) REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Gardasil 9 (HPV) Engerix-B (hep B) Recombivax HB (hep B) Daptacel (DTaP) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) PedvaxHIB (Hib) Havrix (hep A) Vaqta (hep A) Boostrix (Tdap) Adacel (Tdap) Trumenba (MenB) Vaxneuvance (PCV15) Prevnar 20 / Prevenar 20 (PCV20) Penbraya (MenABCWY)
Amount per dose	Infanrix hexa 0.82 mg Al3+ (0.5 + 0.32 mg); Bexsero 0.5 mg; Gardasil 9 0.5 mg; Revaxis 0.35 mg; Repevax 0.33 mg; Penbraya 0.25 mg; Prevenar 13 / Prevnar 20 0.125 mg; Vaxneuvance 125 mcg (per dose, from each product's leaflet - see Ingredients table). (product leaflets linked in the Ingredients table) US legal limit per dose: 0.85 mg (by assay); 1.14 mg (by calculation); up to 1.25 mg if data show it is safe and necessary. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	'Aluminum adjuvant containing vaccines have a demonstrated safety profile of over many decades of use and have only uncommonly been associated with severe local reactions.' source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	'The most common source of exposure to aluminum is from eating food or drinking water.' source The average US adult 'eats about 7-9 mg aluminum per day in their food'; 'Children and adults may be exposed to small amounts of aluminum from vaccinations.' source
Regulatory history	US per-dose aluminium limit set in federal regulation (21 CFR 610.15). source
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Thimerosal / thiomersal (ethylmercury)

Why it is used	Preservative to prevent bacterial and fungal growth when needles repeatedly enter a multi-dose vial; also used in manufacture of some vaccines. source US regulation generally requires a preservative in multi-dose vials; FDA cites a 1928 Australian incident (Bundaberg) in which 12 children died after injection from a contaminated multi-dose bottle without preservative. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Fluzone Trivalent 2026-27 (flu injection) Flucelvax 2026-27 (flu injection, cell-grown)
Amount per dose	0.01% thimerosal = 50 mcg thimerosal, about 25 mcg mercury per 0.5 mL dose. 2026-27 US labels: Fluzone multi-dose vial 25 mcg mercury per 0.5 mL; Flucelvax multi-dose vial 25 mcg. Single-dose syringes of these brands contain none. source source 2 FDA table: Afluria multi-dose 24.5 mcg mercury per 0.5 mL. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Metabolised to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate; FDA says ethylmercury 'should be distinguished from methylmercury' (the type in fish), which 'at high exposure levels... can be toxic'. FDA's 1999 review 'found no evidence of harm... other than local hypersensitivity reactions'. source FDA 1999 review: depending on formulations and infant weight, 'some infants could have been exposed to cumulative levels of mercury during the first six months of life that exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended guidelines for safe intake of methylmercury'. source WHO's advisory committee: 'no evidence to suggest that the amount of thiomersal used in vaccines poses a health risk'. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	FDA: 25 mcg mercury per 0.5 mL dose is 'roughly the same amount of elemental mercury contained in a 3 ounce can of tuna fish'. source
Regulatory history	US: 1 July 1999 FDA asked all manufacturers for plans to remove thimerosal, as 'a precautionary measure'. By 2001, except flu vaccines, it was 'removed from or reduced in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and under'. source source 2 UK: Department of Health letter of 10 Aug 2004 - from 27 Sept 2004 new childhood vaccines (Pediacel, Repevax, Revaxis) were introduced; 'there is no thiomersal in the new vaccines'. source US: July 2025 the HHS Secretary adopted an ACIP recommendation that children, pregnant women and adults receive only single-dose, thimerosal-free flu vaccines. source The 2026-27 FDA labels for Fluzone and Flucelvax still describe a multi-dose vial containing thimerosal. source source 2
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	WHO: 'Multi-dose vials are used in many countries because they require less storage space in the cold-chain and lead to less wastage, both of which have a significant impact on programme costs.' 'Alternatives would incur significant costs for development and regulatory approval, thereby limiting the ability to offer affordable vaccines.' source FDA: multi-dose vials 'help facilitate immunization campaigns in the United States and globally'. source

↑ all ingredients of concern

Formaldehyde

Why it is used	Used 'to inactivate viruses so that they don't cause disease... and to detoxify bacterial toxins'; residual amounts may remain. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) MenQuadfi (MenACWY) Recombivax HB (hep B) Daptacel (DTaP) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) ActHIB (Hib) Hiberix (Hib) IPOL (polio, IPV) Havrix (hep A) Vaqta (hep A) Boostrix (Tdap) Adacel (Tdap) Menveo (MenACWY) Fluzone Trivalent 2026-27 (flu injection) Fluarix 2026-27 (flu injection) FluLaval 2026-27 (flu injection)
Amount per dose	2026-27 flu labels: Fluzone up to 100 mcg per 0.5 mL; FluLaval up to 25 mcg; Fluarix up to 5 mcg. source source 2
Documented safety and toxicity facts	'Excessive exposure to formaldehyde may cause cancer, but... the highest risk is from the air when formaldehyde is inhaled... There is no evidence linking cancer to infrequent exposure to tiny amounts of formaldehyde via injection as occurs with vaccines.' source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	The body makes formaldehyde naturally; 'for a newborn of average weight of 6 - 8 pounds, the amount of formaldehyde in their body is 50-70 times higher than the upper amount that they could receive from a single dose of a vaccine or from vaccines administered over time'. source
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

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Polysorbate 80

Why it is used	An emulsifier that 'helps ingredients mix together and keep them from separating' (FDA, describing the AS03 adjuvant). source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Vaxelis Prevenar 13 / Prevnar 13 (PCV13) REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Gardasil 9 (HPV) Abrysvo (RSV, given in pregnancy) RotaTeq (rotavirus, oral) Infanrix (DTaP) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) Boostrix (Tdap) Trumenba (MenB) Fluarix 2026-27 (flu injection) FluLaval 2026-27 (flu injection) Flucelvax 2026-27 (flu injection, cell-grown) Prevnar 20 / Prevenar 20 (PCV20) Penbraya (MenABCWY) Beyfortus (nirsevimab) - monoclonal antibody, not a vaccine Enflonsia (clesrovimab) - monoclonal antibody, not a vaccine
Amount per dose	Flucelvax up to 1,125 mcg; FluLaval up to 665 mcg; Fluarix up to 415 mcg per dose (2026-27 labels). Enflonsia 0.14 mg; Penbraya 0.018 mg. source source 2 Infant vaccines: Prevnar 20 100 mcg per dose; Pediarix up to 100 mcg per dose. source source 2
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Published LD50 (ChemIDplus/RTECS): intravenous rat 1,790 mg/kg; intravenous mouse 4,500 mg/kg; intraperitoneal rat 6,804 mg/kg; intraperitoneal mouse 7,600 mg/kg; oral mouse 25,000 mg/kg; oral rat 34.5 mL/kg. Lowest reported lethal dose (LDLo), intravenous dog and cat: 500 mg/kg. No intramuscular or subcutaneous LD50 found. source EFSA reports that 'The acute toxicity is very low' and that there is 'no concern regarding genotoxicity, carcinogenicity or developmental toxicity' (food-additive review). source Guide's own arithmetic Scaled to a 5 kg baby: intravenous rat LD50 = 8,950 mg; lowest lethal dose in dogs and cats (intravenous) = 2,500 mg. One infant dose of Prevnar 20 contains 0.1 mg: 89,500 times less than the rat figure (0.0011%) and 25,000 times less than the dog/cat figure (0.004%). The largest amount listed here, Flucelvax 1.125 mg (given from 6 months), is about 8,000 times less than the rat figure (0.013%) and about 2,200 times less than the dog/cat figure (0.045%). LD50 is the single dose that killed half of the test animals; it measures acute lethality only, not chronic, allergic or cumulative effects, and scaling an animal result to a baby by body weight is a simplification. Route matters: most vaccines are injected into muscle, so injected (intravenous, subcutaneous) values are more relevant than oral ones. source source 2
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	EFSA (2015) keeps a group acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 25 mg per kg body weight per day for polysorbates in food (oral), based on a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 2,500 mg/kg/day in rats. source Guide's own arithmetic For a 5 kg baby the ADI equals 125 mg a day by mouth; one 0.1 mg infant dose is 0.08% of one day's ADI, and 1.125 mg (Flucelvax) is 0.9%. The ADI is for food eaten every day, not for injection. source
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

2-Phenoxyethanol

Why it is used	Preservative; 'sometimes used in cosmetics and antiseptics'. FDA lists it in one available US vaccine, IPOL, at 0.5%. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) Daptacel (DTaP) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) IPOL (polio, IPV) Adacel (Tdap)
Amount per dose	IPOL: 0.5% concentration. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	EU scientific committee 'considers 2-phenoxyethanol safe for use as a preservative with a maximum concentration of 1.0 %' in cosmetics. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	Cosmetics limit reviewed by the EU committee: 1.0%; IPOL contains 0.5%. source source 2
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Residual egg protein (ovalbumin)

Why it is used	Some flu viruses and the measles and mumps components of MMR are grown in hens' eggs or chick-embryo cells. source source 2
UK/US products in this guide that list it	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) Fluenz Tetra (2020) / Fluenz (current, nasal flu) Fluzone Trivalent 2026-27 (flu injection) Fluarix 2026-27 (flu injection) FluLaval 2026-27 (flu injection) FluMist 2026-27 (nasal spray, live) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)
Amount per dose	Fluarix up to 0.05 mcg ovalbumin; FluLaval up to 0.3 mcg (2026-27 labels). Flucelvax and Flublok contain no egg protein. source source 2
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Pink Book: 'MMR vaccine may be administered to egg-allergic persons without prior routine skin testing or the use of special protocols.' source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	A flu vaccine 'not requiring isolation or growth in hen's eggs was licensed in 2013' (Flublok). source
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Residual yeast protein

Why it is used	Hepatitis B and HPV vaccine proteins are made in baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). source source 2
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Vaxelis Gardasil 9 (HPV) Engerix-B (hep B) Recombivax HB (hep B) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV)
Amount per dose	Amount per dose not stated in the sources compiled.
Documented safety and toxicity facts	'History of hypersensitivity to yeast' is a contraindication to hep B vaccine. In 2011 the Institute of Medicine concluded 'the evidence convincingly supports a causal relationship between HepB vaccine and anaphylaxis in yeast-sensitive persons'. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Gelatin (usually porcine)

Why it is used	Stabiliser; protects the vaccine during freeze-drying. FDA: such proteins 'are encountered in everyday life in the diet'. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	ProQuad (MMRV) Fluenz Tetra (2020) / Fluenz (current, nasal flu) M-M-R II (MMR) Varivax (chickenpox)
Amount per dose	Amount per dose not stated in the sources compiled.
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Pink Book lists MMR and varicella vaccines as containing gelatin; severe allergy to a vaccine component is a contraindication. source source 2
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Why it is used	Stabiliser ('the monosodium salt of glutamic acid'). source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	ProQuad (MMRV) Fluenz Tetra (2020) / Fluenz (current, nasal flu) M-M-R II (MMR) Varivax (chickenpox)
Amount per dose	Amount per dose not stated in the sources compiled.
Documented safety and toxicity facts	FDA considers MSG in food 'generally recognized as safe' (GRAS); it has received reports of symptoms such as headache and nausea after eating foods containing MSG. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	'An average adult consumes approximately 13 grams of glutamate each day from the protein in food, while intake of added MSG is estimated at around 0.55 grams per day.' source
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Neomycin and other antibiotics

Why it is used	Used 'to help prevent bacterial contamination during manufacturing'; reduced to very small or undetectable amounts. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Infanrix hexa Vaxelis Bexsero (MenB) ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) Fluenz Tetra (2020) / Fluenz (current, nasal flu) Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) IPOL (polio, IPV) M-M-R II (MMR) Varivax (chickenpox) Havrix (hep A) Vaqta (hep A) Fluarix 2026-27 (flu injection) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)
Amount per dose	Priorix (US) neomycin up to 25 mcg per dose; Fluarix gentamicin up to 0.15 mcg. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	'Antibiotics most likely to cause severe allergic reactions (e.g., penicillins, cephalosporins and sulfa drugs) are not used in vaccine production'; 'the very small amounts... have not been clearly associated with severe allergic reactions'. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Residual cell-line DNA and protein (MRC-5, WI-38, Vero, MDCK, CHO)

Why it is used	Viruses for some vaccines are grown in cells: rubella in WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts; varicella passed through MRC-5 human diploid cells; polio (IPV) in monkey kidney (Vero) cells. source source 2 WI-38 and MRC-5 are listed by the Coriell repository as diploid human fetal lung fibroblast cell strains (MRC-5 'from Britain'). source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	ProQuad (MMRV) Priorix-Tetra (MMRV) REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) REVAXIS (Td/IPV teenage booster) M-M-R II (MMR) Varivax (chickenpox) Havrix (hep A) Flucelvax 2026-27 (flu injection, cell-grown) Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022) Enflonsia (clesrovimab) - monoclonal antibody, not a vaccine
Amount per dose	Flucelvax (dog-kidney MDCK cells): up to 10 ng cell DNA and up to 21.6 mcg cell protein per dose (2026-27 label). Amounts for MRC-5/WI-38 vaccines not stated in sources compiled. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	No LD50 published: residual cell DNA and protein are not tested for a lethal dose. (none found in ChemIDplus, PubChem or ECHA) WHO (2013) reports that its earlier recommendation 'sets the upper limit of rcDNA [residual cell DNA] at 10 ng per parenteral dose', and that DNA from primary cells and diploid cell lines (such as MRC-5 and WI-38) 'has not been (and is not) considered to pose any significant risk'; the theoretical concern is with continuous cell lines that grow indefinitely (such as Vero and MDCK). source Guide's own arithmetic Flucelvax's stated maximum, 10 ng of MDCK cell DNA per dose, equals the WHO upper limit of 10 ng. source source 2
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Glutaraldehyde

Why it is used	Listed as a manufacturing residual in several DTaP-containing vaccines (CDC 2020 excipient table). source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Vaxelis REPEVAX (dTaP/IPV pre-school booster) Daptacel (DTaP) Pentacel (DTaP-IPV/Hib) Quadracel (DTaP-IPV) Adacel (Tdap)
Amount per dose	Less than 50 ng (0.00005 mg) residual glutaraldehyde per 0.5 mL dose in Daptacel and Pentacel (US labels); 50 ng or less in Vaxelis. source source 2 Pentacel label: '<50 ng residual glutaraldehyde'. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Published LD50 (ChemIDplus/RTECS): intravenous rat 9.8 mg/kg; intravenous mouse 15.4 mg/kg; intraperitoneal rat 17.9 mg/kg; intraperitoneal mouse 13.9 mg/kg; subcutaneous rat more than 750 mg/kg; subcutaneous mouse more than 590 mg/kg; oral rat 134 mg/kg (PubChem/HSDB also lists 154-315 mg/kg in other rat studies). No intramuscular LD50 found. source source 2 Guide's own arithmetic Scaled to a 5 kg baby: intravenous rat LD50 = 49 mg; subcutaneous rat = more than 3,750 mg; oral rat = 670 mg. One dose contains less than 0.00005 mg: at least 980,000 times less than the intravenous rat figure (about 0.0001% or less), and about 13 million times less than the oral figure. LD50 is the single dose that killed half of the test animals; it measures acute lethality only, not chronic, allergic or cumulative effects, and scaling an animal result to a baby by body weight is a simplification. Route matters: most vaccines are injected into muscle, so injected (intravenous, subcutaneous) values are more relevant than oral ones. source source 2
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Natural rubber latex (packaging)

Why it is used	Not an ingredient: some syringe tip caps or vial stoppers are made with natural rubber latex. Priorix (US): the diluent syringe tip caps 'contain natural rubber latex'. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Priorix (MMR, US licence 2022)
Amount per dose	Not applicable (packaging).
Documented safety and toxicity facts	Pink Book: some hepatitis B and A vaccine presentations contain latex; a 2-valent HPV vaccine 'should not be used in persons with an anaphylactic allergy to latex'. source source 2 FDA discourages 'latex-free' labelling because 'it is not possible to reliably assure that there is an absence of the allergens'. source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	FDA labelling guidance on latex statements issued December 2014. source
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

PEG-lipids and lipid nanoparticles (mRNA vaccines)

Why it is used	The mRNA is packaged in lipid particles; Comirnaty lists ALC-0315, ALC-0159 (a polyethylene glycol-2000 lipid), DSPC and cholesterol. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, mRNA) Spikevax (Moderna COVID-19, mRNA)
Amount per dose	Amounts per dose not listed in the SmPC excipient section. source
Documented safety and toxicity facts	US, 14-23 Dec 2020: 21 anaphylaxis cases after 1,893,360 first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech (11.1 per million); 17 had a history of allergies; all 20 with follow-up recovered or were discharged. (The report does not attribute the reactions to a specific ingredient in the abstract.) source
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	Formulation changed from phosphate-buffered saline to trometamol buffer (lipids unchanged) - see Ingredients table.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

Other commonly flagged: fetal bovine serum, porcine circovirus DNA

Why it is used	Fetal bovine serum: when viruses are grown in cells, 'these cells need a source of nutrition, which in some instances may be provided by fetal bovine serum'. source Porcine circovirus: CDC's 2020 table notes PCV-1 is present in Rotarix and PCV-1/PCV-2 DNA in RotaTeq, 'not known to cause disease in humans'. source
UK/US products in this guide that list it	Rotarix (rotavirus, oral) RotaTeq (rotavirus, oral) M-M-R II (MMR) Varivax (chickenpox)
Amount per dose	Not stated in the sources compiled.
Documented safety and toxicity facts	None found in the sources checked.
Comparison exposures (diet, water, the body's own production)	None found in the sources checked.
Regulatory history	None found in the sources checked.
Cost or commercial reasons given in the sources	None found in the sources checked.

↑ all ingredients of concern

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))

Show the individual items

Company	Year	Amount	What it was for	Criminal / civil	Plea or settlement
Pfizer	2004	$430 million	Warner-Lambert: Neurontin off-label promotion	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea source
Pfizer	2009	$2.3 billion	Bextra and 3 other drugs: off-label promotion, kickbacks. Included a $1.195bn criminal fine, which DOJ called 'the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter'	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea (Pharmacia & Upjohn); civil part settled source
Pfizer	2013	$490.9 million	Wyeth: Rapamune off-label promotion	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea (misbranding); civil part settled source
Pfizer	2016	$784.6 million	Wyeth: Protonix Medicaid rebates	Civil	Settlement ('do not deny the government's allegations') source
GSK	2010	$750 million	SB Pharmco (Cidra, Puerto Rico): adulterated drugs	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea (felony); civil part settled source
GSK	2012	$3 billion	Paxil, Wellbutrin off-label promotion; Avandia safety data not reported; pricing	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea; civil claims 'allegations only' source
GSK	2014	$489 million	GSK China: bribery (Changsha court; 3 billion yuan)	Criminal	Found guilty by court source
Merck	2008	$650 million	Medicaid rebates and kickbacks	Civil	Settlement source
Merck	2011	$950 million	Vioxx promotion and cardiovascular-safety statements	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea (misdemeanour); civil part settled source
AstraZeneca	2003	$355 million	Zoladex pricing and free samples	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea; civil part settled source
AstraZeneca	2010	$520 million	Seroquel off-label marketing	Civil	Settlement source
Sanofi	2007	$190 million	Aventis: Anzemet pricing	Civil	Settlement source
Sanofi	2012	$109 million	Hyalgan free units (kickbacks)	Civil	Settlement source
Johnson & Johnson	2013	$2.2 billion	Risperdal, Invega, Natrecor off-label promotion and kickbacks	Criminal + civil	Guilty plea (Janssen, misbranding); civil part settled source
Johnson & Johnson	2021	$5 billion	Opioids: national settlement with states and local governments, reached 2021 and finalised (up to $5bn over no more than 9 years)	Civil	Settlement source

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

UK 1983 (reconstructed) - full schedule

Source: Lang, Loving, McCarthy, Pollard: Two centuries of immunisation in the United Kingdom (Part II), Table 3 (1968, 1992, 2018 schedules) - Oxford University Research Archive · UKHSA: Vaccination timeline table from 1796 to present (updated 20 November 2025)

GAP: No single official 1983 UK schedule was found online. This row is this guide's reconstruction: the 1968 schedule in Lang et al. Table 3 (smallpox removed - routine smallpox vaccination ended in 1971 - and girls' rubella added from the UKHSA timeline). MMR (1988) and the accelerated 2-3-4 month schedule (June 1990) came later.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	3	3 doses from 3-6 months, 6-8 weeks apart	injection
Oral polio	polio	3	with DTP	by mouth
Measles	measles	1	2nd year of life	injection
DT + oral polio booster	diphtheria, tetanus	1	school entry (about 5 years)	injection
Oral polio booster	polio	1	school entry	by mouth
Rubella (girls)	rubella	1	10-14 years	injection	Girls only (rubella programme from 1970, UKHSA timeline). Counts are for a girl.
BCG	tuberculosis	1	10-14 years	injection
Tetanus booster	tetanus	1	15-18 years	injection
Oral polio booster	polio	1	15-18 years	by mouth

Guide's own count: 20 disease doses; 8 injections; 7 diseases; 7 visits (infant 1, infant 2, infant 3, 2nd year, 5y, 10-14y, 15-18y); 13 products given.

UK 1992 - full schedule

Source: Lang, Loving, McCarthy, Pollard: Two centuries of immunisation in the United Kingdom (Part II), Table 3 (1968, 1992, 2018 schedules) - Oxford University Research Archive · UKHSA: Vaccination timeline table from 1796 to present (updated 20 November 2025)

Official UK schedule documents for 2000 were not found online; the next UK row is the September 2006 schedule.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTwP (whole-cell)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	3	2, 3, 4 months	injection
Hib	Hib	3	2, 3, 4 months	injection	Separate injection in 1992 (combined DTwP/Hib from 1996 per UKHSA's 2015 timeline).
Oral polio	polio	3	2, 3, 4 months	by mouth
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	1	12-18 months	injection
DT booster	diphtheria, tetanus	1	4-5 years	injection
Oral polio booster	polio	1	4-5 years	by mouth
Rubella (girls)	rubella	1	10-14 years	injection	Counts are for a girl.
BCG	tuberculosis	1	10-14 years	injection
Tetanus booster	tetanus	1	15-18 years	injection
Oral polio booster	polio	1	15-18 years	by mouth

Guide's own count: 25 disease doses; 11 injections; 9 diseases; 7 visits (2m, 3m, 4m, 12-18m, 4-5y, 10-14y, 15-18y); 16 products given.

UK Sept 2006 - full schedule

Source: Scottish Executive CMO(2006)9: changes to the routine childhood immunisation programme from 4 September 2006 (PDF)

BCG had become selective (high-risk infants) and is not in the routine table.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP/IPV/Hib (Pediacel)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib	3	2, 3, 4 months	injection
PCV (Prevenar)	pneumococcal	3	2, 4, 13 months	injection
MenC	meningococcal	2	3, 4 months	injection
Hib/MenC (Menitorix)	Hib, meningococcal	1	12 months	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	13 months; 3 years 4 months-5 years	injection
dTaP/IPV pre-school booster	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio	1	3 years 4 months-5 years	injection
Td/IPV teenage booster	diphtheria, tetanus, polio	1	13-18 years	injection

Guide's own count: 35 disease doses; 13 injections; 10 diseases; 7 visits (2m, 3m, 4m, 12m, 13m, 3y4m, 13-18y); 13 products given.

UK 2010 - full schedule

Source: Scottish Executive CMO(2006)9: changes to the routine childhood immunisation programme from 4 September 2006 (PDF) · Scottish Government CMO(2008)3: HPV immunisation programme - further guidance (PDF)

The 2006 table plus HPV for girls (2008) and the switch from PCV7 to PCV13 (2010, UKHSA timeline). No routine children's flu programme until 2013 (UKHSA timeline).

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP/IPV/Hib	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib	3	2, 3, 4 months	injection
PCV13 (PCV7 until 2010)	pneumococcal	3	2, 4, 13 months	injection
MenC	meningococcal	2	3, 4 months	injection
Hib/MenC	Hib, meningococcal	1	12 months	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	13 months; 3 years 4 months-5 years	injection
dTaP/IPV pre-school booster	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio	1	3 years 4 months-5 years	injection
Td/IPV teenage booster	diphtheria, tetanus, polio	1	13-18 years	injection
HPV (girls, Cervarix)	HPV	3	12-13 years, 3 doses within 12 months	injection	Girls only from September 2008 (CMO(2008)3). Counts are for a girl.

Guide's own count: 38 disease doses; 16 injections; 11 diseases; 10 visits (2m, 3m, 4m, 12m, 13m, 3y4m, 12-13y, HPV 2, HPV 3, 13-18y); 16 products given.

UK Jan 2020 - full schedule

Source: PHE: The routine immunisation schedule from January 2020 (PDF, archived copy)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB (Infanrix hexa)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, hepatitis B	3	8, 12, 16 weeks	injection
MenB (Bexsero)	meningococcal	3	8, 16 weeks; 1 year	injection
Rotavirus (Rotarix, by mouth)	rotavirus	2	8, 12 weeks	by mouth
PCV13 (Prevenar 13)	pneumococcal	2	12 weeks; 1 year	injection
Hib/MenC (Menitorix)	Hib, meningococcal	1	1 year	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	1 year; 3 years 4 months	injection
dTaP/IPV pre-school booster	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio	1	3 years 4 months	injection
HPV (boys and girls)	HPV	2	12-13 years, 2 doses 6-24 months apart	injection
Td/IPV	diphtheria, tetanus, polio	1	14 years	injection
MenACWY	meningococcal	1	14 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	9 (assumed)	nasal spray yearly; 2019/20: ages 2-3 and Reception to Year 6 source	nasal spray	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.
COVID-19	COVID-19	0	no COVID-19 vaccine existed	-	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

Guide's own count: 43 disease doses; 16 injections; 13 diseases; 8 visits (8w, 12w, 16w, 1y, 3y4m, 12-13y, HPV 2, 14y); 18 products given.

UK Jan 2025 - full schedule

Source: UKHSA: The complete routine immunisation schedule from January 2025 (PDF, archived copy) · UKHSA: The complete routine immunisation schedule (publication page with change history)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB (Infanrix hexa or Vaxelis)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, hepatitis B	3	8, 12, 16 weeks	injection
MenB	meningococcal	3	8, 16 weeks; 1 year	injection
Rotavirus (by mouth)	rotavirus	2	8, 12 weeks	by mouth
PCV13	pneumococcal	2	12 weeks; 1 year	injection
Hib/MenC	Hib, meningococcal	1	1 year	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	1 year; 3 years 4 months	injection
dTaP/IPV (REPEVAX)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio	1	3 years 4 months	injection
HPV (Gardasil 9)	HPV	1	12-13 years, 1 dose (from September 2023)	injection	One dose for most young people; 3 for immunocompromised (schedule footnote).
Td/IPV	diphtheria, tetanus, polio	1	14 years	injection
MenACWY	meningococcal	1	14 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	14 (assumed)	nasal spray yearly: ages 2-3 and Reception to Year 11 source	nasal spray	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.
COVID-19	COVID-19	0	not offered to healthy children (JCVI) source	-	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

Guide's own count: 42 disease doses; 15 injections; 13 diseases; 7 visits (8w, 12w, 16w, 1y, 3y4m, 12-13y, 14y); 17 products given.

UK Sept 2026 (now) - full schedule

Source: UKHSA: The complete routine immunisation schedule from 1 September 2026 (PDF) · UKHSA: The complete routine immunisation schedule (publication page with change history)

For a child born on or after 1 July 2024 (18-month visit) and on or after 1 January 2025 (no MMRV at 3 years 4 months). Hib/MenC at 1 year was removed from 1 January 2026; MMRV and the 18-month 6-in-1 dose were added (UKHSA change history).

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB (6-in-1)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, hepatitis B	4	8, 12, 16 weeks; 18 months	injection
MenB (Bexsero)	meningococcal	3	8, 12 weeks; 1 year	injection
Rotavirus (Rotarix, by mouth)	rotavirus	2	8, 12 weeks	by mouth
PCV (Prevenar 13)	pneumococcal	2	16 weeks; 1 year	injection
MMRV (ProQuad or Priorix Tetra)	measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox	2	1 year; 18 months	injection
dTaP/IPV (REPEVAX)	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio	1	3 years 4 months	injection
HPV (Gardasil 9)	HPV	1	12-13 years	injection
Td/IPV (REVAXIS)	diphtheria, tetanus, polio	1	14 years	injection
MenACWY (MenQuadfi)	meningococcal	1	14 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	14 (assumed)	nasal spray yearly: ages 2-3 and Reception to Year 11 source	nasal spray	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.
COVID-19	COVID-19	0	not offered to healthy children (JCVI) source	-	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

Guide's own count: 48 disease doses; 15 injections; 14 diseases; 8 visits (8w, 12w, 16w, 1y, 18m, 3y4m, 12-13y, 14y); 17 products given.

US 1983 - full schedule

Source: CDC archive: 1983 childhood immunization schedule (ACIP, Table 1) · CDC: Past immunization schedules (archive page, 1983 onwards)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 18 months; 4-6 years	injection
OPV (oral polio)	polio	4	2, 4, 18 months; 4-6 years	by mouth	A 6-month dose was optional in high-risk areas (not counted).
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	1	15 months	injection
Td	diphtheria, tetanus	1	14-16 years	injection

Guide's own count: 24 disease doses; 7 injections; 7 diseases; 7 visits (2m, 4m, 6m, 15m, 18m, 4-6y, 14-16y); 11 products given.

US 1989 - full schedule

Source: CDC archive: 1989 childhood immunization schedule (ACIP, Table 2) · CDC: Past immunization schedules (archive page, 1983 onwards)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15 months; 4-6 years	injection
OPV (oral polio)	polio	4	2, 4, 15 months; 4-6 years	by mouth
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	1	15 months	injection
HbCV (Hib conjugate)	Hib	1	18 months	injection
Td	diphtheria, tetanus	1	14-16 years	injection

Guide's own count: 25 disease doses; 8 injections; 8 diseases; 7 visits (2m, 4m, 6m, 15m, 18m, 4-6y, 14-16y); 12 products given.

US 1994 - full schedule

Source: CDC archive: 1994 childhood immunization schedule (Table 3, birth to 4-6 years) · CDC: Past immunization schedules (archive page, 1983 onwards)

The 1994 table stops at school entry (4-6 years); a DTP/Hib combination (TETRAMUNE) is listed in its footnotes.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
Hepatitis B	hepatitis B	3	birth; 1-2 months; 6-18 months (option 1)	injection
DTP / DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15 months; 4-6 years	injection
OPV (oral polio)	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	by mouth
Hib (HbOC or PRP-T)	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	3 doses if PRP-OMP (PedvaxHIB) is used.
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years (AAP: 11-12 years)	injection
Td	diphtheria, tetanus	1	11-16 years	injection	NOT in the 1994 table (which ends at 4-6 years). Included by this guide because the 1989 and 2000 CDC schedules both list it; treat as an assumption.

Guide's own count: 34 disease doses; 15 injections; 9 diseases; 9 visits (birth, 1-2m, 2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15m, 4-6y, 11-16y); 19 products given.

US 2000 - full schedule

Source: CDC MMWR 49(02): Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule - United States, 2000

Hepatitis A was for selected areas only (not counted). Rotavirus vaccine had been withdrawn in 1999.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
Hepatitis B	hepatitis B	3	birth-2 months; 1-4 months; 6-18 months	injection
DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Td	diphtheria, tetanus	1	11-12 years	injection
Hib	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	3 doses if PRP-OMP is used.
IPV (injected polio)	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Varicella	chickenpox	1	12-18 months	injection

Guide's own count: 35 disease doses; 20 injections; 10 diseases; 9 visits (birth, 1-2m, 2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15-18m, 4-6y, 11-12y); 20 products given.

US 2010 - full schedule

Source: CDC MMWR 58(51&52): Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Aged 0 Through 18 Years - United States, 2010

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
Hepatitis B	hepatitis B	3	birth; 1-2 months; 6-18 months	injection
Rotavirus (oral)	rotavirus	3	2, 4, 6 months	by mouth	RV5 = 3 doses; RV1 = 2 doses.
DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hib	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	3 doses if PRP-OMP.
Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV)	pneumococcal	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection
IPV	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Varicella	chickenpox	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hepatitis A	hepatitis A	2	12-23 months (2 doses)	injection
Tdap	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	1	11-12 years	injection
HPV (girls)	HPV	3	11-12 years, 3-dose series	injection	Routine for girls; for boys 'may be given' (permissive). Counts are for a girl.
MCV4 (meningococcal)	meningococcal	1	11-12 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	19 (assumed)	yearly, 6 months to 18 years	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

Guide's own count: 50 disease doses; 31 injections; 15 diseases; 12 visits (birth, 1-2m, 2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15-18m, 18-23m, 4-6y, 11-12y, HPV 2, HPV 3); 34 products given.

US 2020 - full schedule

Source: CDC: Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule, United States, 2020 (PDF)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
Hepatitis B	hepatitis B	3	birth; 1-2 months; 6-18 months	injection
Rotavirus (oral)	rotavirus	3	2, 4, 6 months	by mouth	RV5 = 3 doses; RV1 = 2 doses.
DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hib	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	3 doses if PedvaxHIB.
PCV13	pneumococcal	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection
IPV	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Varicella	chickenpox	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hepatitis A	hepatitis A	2	12-23 months	injection
Tdap	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	1	11-12 years	injection
HPV	HPV	2	11-12 years (2 doses if started before 15)	injection
MenACWY	meningococcal	2	11-12 years; 16 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	19 (assumed)	yearly from 6 months	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

• MenB at 16-18 years: shared clinical decision-making (not counted).

Guide's own count: 50 disease doses; 31 injections; 15 diseases; 12 visits (birth, 1-2m, 2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15-18m, 18-23m, 4-6y, 11-12y, HPV 2, 16y); 34 products given.

US Jan 2025 - full schedule

Source: CDC: Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger, United States, 2025 (PDF, January 2025 edition; archived copy)

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
Hepatitis B	hepatitis B	3	birth; 1-2 months; 6-18 months	injection
Rotavirus (oral)	rotavirus	3	2, 4, 6 months	by mouth	RV5 = 3 doses; RV1 = 2 doses.
DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hib	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	3 doses if PedvaxHIB.
PCV15 / PCV20	pneumococcal	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection
IPV	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Varicella	chickenpox	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hepatitis A	hepatitis A	2	12-23 months	injection
Tdap	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	1	11-12 years	injection
HPV	HPV	2	11-12 years (can start at 9)	injection
MenACWY	meningococcal	2	11-12 years; 16 years	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	19 (assumed)	yearly from 6 months	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.
COVID-19	COVID-19	19 (assumed)	from 6 months; routine for all ages in the Jan 2025 edition	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

• RSV monoclonal antibody (nirsevimab or clesrovimab): 1 dose under 8 months if the mother was not vaccinated - an antibody, not a vaccine; listed separately, not counted.
• MenB at 16-18 years: shared clinical decision-making (not counted). Dengue: only for children with lab-confirmed past infection in endemic areas (not counted).

Guide's own count: 50 disease doses; 31 injections; 15 diseases; 12 visits (birth, 1-2m, 2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15-18m, 18-23m, 4-6y, 11-12y, HPV 2, 16y); 34 products given.

US Jan 2026 (stayed) - full schedule

Source: HHS: Fact Sheet - CDC Childhood Immunization Recommendations (5 January 2026) · Congressional Research Service R48982: The 2026 Childhood Immunization Schedule (11 June 2026)

Status: Stayed by the US District Court for Massachusetts on 16 March 2026 (CRS R48982); not in force as of 22 Oct 2026.

Counts show the doses recommended for ALL children on this schedule. The doses moved to high-risk / shared decision-making are not counted in the main figures.

Vaccine	Diseases	Doses	Ages	Given as	Notes
DTaP	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	5	2, 4, 6, 15-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Tdap	diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis	1	11-12 years	injection
IPV	polio	4	2, 4, 6-18 months; 4-6 years	injection
Hib	Hib	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection	Dose timing not changed by the 2026 memo (CRS: 'mostly remain as they were').
PCV	pneumococcal	4	2, 4, 6, 12-15 months	injection
MMR	measles, mumps, rubella	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
Varicella	chickenpox	2	12-15 months; 4-6 years	injection
HPV	HPV	1	1 dose (was 2)	injection
Flu (yearly)	flu	19 (assumed)	moved to shared clinical decision-making	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.
COVID-19	COVID-19	19 (assumed)	individual decision-making (ACIP, 19 Sept 2025)	injection	Counted only in the 'with flu' / 'with flu and COVID' columns.

• Moved to high-risk groups and/or shared clinical decision-making: hepatitis B (for infants of mothers who test negative), hepatitis A, MenACWY, MenB, RSV antibody, dengue; rotavirus, flu and COVID-19 moved to shared clinical decision-making only (HHS fact sheet; CRS R48982).

Guide's own count: 39 disease doses; 23 injections; 11 diseases; 7 visits (2m, 4m, 6m, 12-15m, 15-18m, 4-6y, 11-12y); 23 products given.

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.

Reported vaccine injuries over time

This section shows how many suspected vaccine reactions were reported for young children in the US each year, how many vaccine doses were on the schedule at the time, and how many injury claims were paid in the US and UK. A report is not proof that a vaccine caused the problem; see the box below.

US: VAERS reports for babies under 1, per 100,000 births

Guide's own arithmetic: reports received in the year (any vaccine except COVID-19, babies under 1) divided by US births that year, times 100,000. Age 1-2 uses the births of the two previous years as an approximate denominator. Disease doses: the US schedule in force that year, from the 'How the schedule has changed' section (each disease a vaccine covers counts as one dose; flu and COVID-19 not counted). Reports: CDC WONDER VAERS. Births: births 1986-20052006-092010-202021-222023-24.

Every year, 1990-2025

Year report received	US disease doses on the schedule (no flu/COVID)	Reports, babies under 1 (not COVID vaccine)	Per 100,000 births	Of which serious	Serious per 100,000 births	Death reports, under 1	Reports, age 1-2 (not COVID vaccine)	Age 1-2 per 100,000 children (approx.)	COVID-19 vaccine reports, age 0-2 (separate)
1990	25 (1989 schedule)	629	15.1	153	3.7	49	247	3.1	0
1991	25 (1989 schedule)	2,492	60.6	510	12.4	118	1,685	20.6	0
1992	25 (1989 schedule)	2,364	58.2	484	11.9	134	1,512	18.3	0
1993	25 (1989 schedule)	2,211	55.3	491	12.3	155	1,291	15.8	0
1994	34 (1994 schedule)	2,539	64.2	576	14.6	156	1,334	16.5	0
1995	34 (1994 schedule)	2,355	60.4	468	12.0	97	1,552	19.5	0
1996	34 (1994 schedule)	2,004	51.5	375	9.6	78	1,630	20.8	0
1997	34 (1994 schedule)	1,513	39.0	319	8.2	81	1,840	23.6	0
1998	34 (1994 schedule)	1,111	28.2	259	6.6	77	1,667	21.4	0
1999	34 (1994 schedule)	1,437	36.3	472	11.9	82	2,251	28.8	0
2000	35 (2000 schedule)	1,418	34.9	322	7.9	81	2,767	35.0	0
2001	35 (2000 schedule)	1,821	45.2	400	9.9	99	3,140	39.2	0
2002	35 (2000 schedule)	1,648	41.0	371	9.2	79	2,937	36.3	0
2003	35 (2000 schedule)	1,457	35.6	342	8.4	82	2,727	33.9	0
2004	35 (2000 schedule)	1,475	35.9	320	7.8	84	2,526	31.1	0
2005	35 (2000 schedule)	1,445	34.9	310	7.5	68	2,729	33.3	0
2006	35 (2000 schedule)	1,746	40.9	322	7.5	66	3,029	36.7	0
2007	35 (2000 schedule)	2,565	59.4	650	15.1	82	2,789	33.2	0
2008	35 (2000 schedule)	2,541	59.8	621	14.6	85	2,654	30.9	0
2009	35 (2000 schedule)	1,862	45.1	383	9.3	53	2,847	33.2	0
2010	50 (2010 schedule)	1,856	46.4	319	8.0	47	2,834	33.8	0
2011	50 (2010 schedule)	1,799	45.5	393	9.9	58	2,112	26.0	0
2012	50 (2010 schedule)	1,740	44.0	318	8.0	54	1,732	21.8	0
2013	50 (2010 schedule)	1,595	40.6	269	6.8	34	1,899	24.0	0
2014	50 (2010 schedule)	1,885	47.3	290	7.3	28	2,128	27.0	0
2015	50 (2010 schedule)	2,127	53.5	257	6.5	39	2,412	30.5	0
2016	50 (2010 schedule)	1,919	48.6	286	7.2	44	1,982	24.9	0
2017	50 (2010 schedule)	1,942	50.4	274	7.1	52	2,485	31.4	0
2018	50 (2010 schedule)	1,666	43.9	218	5.7	34	2,087	26.8	0
2019	50 (2010 schedule)	1,626	43.4	260	6.9	33	2,106	27.5	0
2020	50 (2020 schedule)	1,331	36.8	152	4.2	30	1,558	20.7	5
2021	50 (2020 schedule)	1,416	38.6	131	3.6	23	1,583	21.5	261
2022	50 (2020 schedule)	1,577	43.0	89	2.4	17	1,781	24.5	1,383
2023	50 (2020 schedule)	1,743	48.5	119	3.3	20	2,101	28.7	1,929
2024	50 (2020 schedule)	1,782	49.1	131	3.6	27	2,032	28.0	530
2025	50 (2025 schedule)	1,557	n/a	162	n/a	16	1,775	24.6	204

COVID-19 vaccine reports for children 0-2 are shown in their own column and are not in the other figures. 2025 births had not been published as final when this was checked, so 2025 rates for babies under 1 are not calculated.

VAERS 1991-2001 as published by CDC at the time (MMWR 2003)

CDC's 2003 surveillance summary reports these VAERS counts source. The current CDC WONDER count for the same year is shown for comparison; differences come from later updates to the data.

Year	Reports, under 1 (MMWR 2003)	Reports, under 1 (CDC WONDER today, not COVID vaccine)	Reports, age 1-6 (MMWR 2003)	All reports, all ages (MMWR 2003)
1991	2,543	2,492	2,531	10,004
1992	2,426	2,364	2,378	10,821
1993	2,296	2,211	2,154	10,327
1994	2,616	2,539	2,208	10,355
1995	2,439	2,355	2,484	10,301
1996	2,159	2,004	2,832	11,238
1997	1,732	1,513	3,294	11,711
1998	1,356	1,111	2,891	10,898
1999	1,743	1,437	3,557	13,157
2000	1,725	1,418	4,466	15,153
2001	2,260	1,821	5,620	14,752

US: Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)

HRSA reports that since 1988 "over 30,322 petitions have been filed", 26,871 have been decided, "13,464 of those determined to be compensable, while 13,407 were dismissed", and about $5.6 billion has been paid source. HRSA also reports that "Approximately 60 percent of all compensation awarded by the VICP comes as result of a negotiated settlement" in which HHS has not concluded that the vaccine caused the injury, and that from 2006 to 2024, "for every 1 million doses of vaccine that were distributed, approximately 1 individual was compensated" source.

All ages. Source: HRSA VICP monthly statistics, 1 Oct 2026. FY 2026 is the fiscal year to 30 Sept 2026. GAP: HRSA does not publish VICP claims split by child or adult.

UK: Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS)

The VDPS pays a one-off £120,000 (not compensation) if, on the balance of probabilities, a vaccine caused severe disablement (at least 60%) source.

Since COVID-19 vaccines: NHSBSA reports that from 26 August 2021 to 19 September 2024 it received 16,030 claims (all vaccines, all ages); 192 claimants were told they were entitled to a payment; 7,265 were refused because the assessor found the vaccine did not cause the disability; 386 because the disablement was not severe; 710 did not meet the criteria for assessment; 7,127 had no outcome yet source.

Gaps: the UK Yellow Card scheme does not publish reports by child age or outcome in a form this guide could use, so there is no UK equivalent of the VAERS table. VDPS figures are not split by child or adult and older figures are not linked to a named vaccine. VICP has no child/adult split.

Benefit vs risk per vaccine

For each routine vaccine: how common and how deadly the disease was before the vaccine and is now, next to the confirmed serious reactions and deaths from the vaccine. Open a row to see the figures and sources. The guide does not net one against the other; the numbers come from different sources and populations.

How to read it. "1 in X" and "%" are two ways of writing the same chance. "Crude, whole population" means recent cases divided by everyone in the country, vaccinated or not; it is not the chance for an unvaccinated child, which would be higher and is not published. "Confirmed" means an official review or a peer-reviewed study found the vaccine caused it. The greyed column counts reports only.

Guide's own arithmetic: recent-year rates per 100,000 people and '1 in X' are case counts divided by population (England mid-2025, England and Wales mid-2024, US 1 July 2024), rounded. Percentages next to reaction rates are the guide's conversion of the source's '1 in X'. Each 'Bottom line' converts the counts and rates in that block into a percentage and an 'about 1 in X' (count divided by population for 'everyone in the country' figures); 'not published' means no figure was found in the sources checked. Population: England England and Wales US. Case counts: disease sections of this guide.

Open all Close all

Gaps: no official per-dose death rate exists for any routine vaccine in the sources checked; the guide does not create one from VAERS. MenB: no vaccine-specific serious-reaction rate found. Reported 72-hour deaths are counted by vaccine mentioned, so one report naming several vaccines appears in several rows.

SIDS and vaccine timing

SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) is the sudden death of a baby under 1 that stays unexplained after a full investigation. Babies get several vaccines in the same months that SIDS is most common, so the question is whether deaths after vaccination are more common than they would be by chance. This section shows the trend, the ages, the reported timing, where the "70%" figure comes from, and the research on both sides.

US: sudden unexpected infant deaths per 100,000 births, 1990-2024

SIDS unknown cause accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed. Total shown on the right.

CDC reports these rates source: in 1990, 130.3 SIDS deaths per 100,000 births and 154.6 for all three causes; in 2024, 37.2 and 93.6. CDC reports that "Sharp declines in SUID in the 1990s followed" the 1992 American Academy of Pediatrics safe-sleep advice, the 1994 Back to Sleep campaign and the 1996 death-investigation form, and that "Beginning in 2020, the SUID rate has been increasing" source. Guide's reading of the same CDC figures: from 1990 to 2024 the SIDS rate fell from 130.3 to 37.2 per 100,000 births while unknown-cause deaths rose from 20.9 to 30.3 and suffocation in bed from 3.4 to 26.1. So part of the fall in SIDS is deaths being recorded under other causes; the total of all three is the fairer comparison over time.

England and Wales: unexplained infant deaths, 2004-2024

sudden infant death (SIDS) unascertained cause. Number of deaths; 2024 provisional. source

Age at death (England and Wales, 2004-2024 combined)

ONS reports 3,028 sudden infant deaths in these years by age source. Guide's own arithmetic: 44% happened before 2 months, the age of the first UK vaccines (8 weeks), so they could not have followed a routine vaccine (other than a selective hepatitis B or BCG dose).

VAERS: days from vaccination to death, babies under 1 reported cases only

Guide's own arithmetic from CDC WONDER: 2,372 death reports for babies under 1 (all years to Sept 2026, all vaccines); 2,115 had a known onset day, 257 did not. Percentages are of the 2,115 with a known day. source

Reported cases only. These are deaths someone chose to report to VAERS because they followed a vaccine. Deaths soon after a vaccine are more likely to be reported (see the VAERS caveat above). They are not a share of all SIDS deaths. "Days after" is the interval from vaccination to the reported event.

How researchers test it: the self-controlled method

Instead of comparing different babies, a self-controlled study compares each baby with itself. For babies who died, it asks: did the death fall in the days just after a vaccine more often than in other days of the same baby's life at a similar age? If vaccines had no effect, deaths would be spread evenly over those days. Because the same baby is compared with itself, family, sleeping position and health are the same on both sides. Its weak point is age: SIDS rises and falls by week of age, so studies must adjust for it. See Definitions.

What the research found

GAP: CDC WONDER's death-certificate data could not be queried by this guide (access refused), so US SIDS deaths by age in weeks are not shown.

Vaccinated vs unvaccinated studies

Studies that compare the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, or of children with more and fewer vaccines, focusing on chronic, allergic and autoimmune conditions. They differ greatly in size, design and publication status, so each row gives both. All are observational: they show associations, which can come from the vaccines or from differences between the families who choose them.

At a glance

The Henry Ford Health draft (c.2020)

A retrospective study of 18,468 children born 2000-2016 in a Michigan health plan, by Lois Lamerato, Abigail Chatfield, Amy Tang and Marcus Zervos. It compared children with no vaccines (1,957) against those with one or more (16,511), using medical records and the Michigan immunisation registry. The draft was entered into the record of a US Senate hearing on 9 September 2025. source source

A hazard ratio of 2 means about twice the rate. Ten years in, 43% of vaccinated and 83% of unvaccinated children had no chronic condition recorded. source

Methodological criticisms and the draft's responses

• Follow-up time: The median follow-up was 461 days for unvaccinated children and 970 for vaccinated. Henry Ford says 75% of the unvaccinated were observed only up to age 3, before many chronic conditions can be diagnosed. source source
• Healthcare use (detection bias): Vaccinated children averaged 7 healthcare encounters a year and unvaccinated children 2 (almost 5 if they had a chronic condition). More visits give more chances to record a diagnosis. The draft re-ran the analysis using only children with at least one encounter (HR 1.87) and with longer enrolment (1, 3 and 5 years: HR 2.84-4.05); the association remained. Other studies show care-seeking differs by vaccination status. source source source
• Group differences: Henry Ford says the unvaccinated group had more boys, more white children, and less prematurity and breathing problems at birth. The draft lacked data on income, diet and lifestyle. source source
• Exposure definition: Any vaccine vs none. The number of vaccines and the timing between vaccine and diagnosis were not analysed. source
• Small numbers for some outcomes: The autoimmune result rests on 2 cases among the unvaccinated, hence the wide confidence interval (1.48-24.11). The abstract and Table 3 give slightly different hazard ratios (e.g. autoimmune 4.79 vs 5.96). source

What each side says

• Aaron Siri (lawyer for ICAN), Senate testimony: ICAN asked Dr Zervos in 2017 to run the study; the ICAN film preview played at the hearing says he promised to publish whatever the results. Siri says the authors told him they had not submitted it because they feared for their jobs and did not want to make doctors uncomfortable, and he calls this an example of 'the corruption of science'. Responding to the follow-up-time and detection-bias criticisms, he pointed to the draft's sensitivity analyses and its use of cancer as a control outcome. source source
• Henry Ford Health statements (Sep 2025): The draft was 'immediately shelved upon the first internal peer review because of serious issues with its data and methodology' and was never submitted. The health system denies suppressing it for its results, says the draft was shared without its knowledge, and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the film's makers. source source
• Dr Jake Scott (minority witness), Senate testimony: Called the draft 'fundamentally flawed by design': vaccinated children had twice the follow-up time and more healthcare visits, which he called 'classic detection bias'. source source
• Film 'An Inconvenient Study' (ICAN / Del Bigtree): A documentary about the draft, premiered online on 12 Oct 2025 (originally announced for 3 Oct). A 5-minute preview was played at the hearing. source

The Senate hearing, 9 September 2025

US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Chairman Ron Johnson, Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal): "How the Corruption of Science has Impacted Public Perception and Policies Regarding Vaccines", Hart Senate Office Building SH-216, 2:00 pm. source source

Key moments (links open the full video at that time)

Timestamps are for the full-length NTD stream on YouTube and were checked against its captions. The official Senate video is on the committee page. source source

• 0:00:06 Chairman Ron Johnson opens the hearing and introduces the Henry Ford draft.
• 0:05:41 Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal's opening statement.
• 0:16:36 Witnesses sworn in; a 5-minute ICAN preview of the film is played (from 0:16:59).
• 0:22:32 Aaron Siri introduced; his opening statement on the IOM 2013 report and the Henry Ford draft starts at 0:23:00.
• 0:29:11 Dr Toby Rogers introduced; his opening statement starts at 0:29:37.
• 0:34:51 Dr Jake Scott introduced; his opening statement starts at about 0:35:10.
• 0:37:53 Dr Scott: the Henry Ford draft is 'fundamentally flawed by design' (follow-up time and detection bias).
• 0:41:09 Siri, asked to defend the draft, describes its sensitivity analyses.
• 1:20:47 Ranking Member Blumenthal asks Siri why the study was not made public sooner; Siri replies that the authors would not submit it.
• 3:01:59 Hearing reconvenes; Dr Robert Malone is sworn in and gives a statement (from 3:02:21).

Why aren't more of these studies done?

Accountability: statements and the record

Public statements from the COVID-19 response, mainly by Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx, plus other officials and a manufacturer where the same claim was made, set next to what documents, testimony and data later showed. Quotes are verbatim from the source linked beside them. Each row also gives the person's own response or the wider context. The “status” column is a short neutral description, not a verdict.

What was said vs what the record later showed

Dr Fauci at the Senate, 29 July 2026

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (Chairman Rand Paul, Ranking Member Gary Peters), “Testimony of Anthony Fauci”, Dirksen SD-342, 8:30 am. source source

• What happened: Under subpoena, Dr Fauci (85) gave a short prepared statement, then answered every question with: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.” In the official transcript this answer appears 111 times (the guide's own count). source source source
• The pardon: On 19 Jan 2025 President Biden gave him “A Full and Unconditional Pardon” for federal offences from 1 Jan 2014 related to his roles. Chairman Paul ruled the Fifth Amendment unavailable for that period (citing Brown v. Walker, 1896), and also ruled that Fauci had waived it with his opening statement. source source
• His stated reasons: “…given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary … the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this Committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in, in his words, ‘behind bars.’” He noted he had testified or briefed Congress “well over 200 times”. source
• His lawyer: David Schertler: Fauci “has a valid Fifth Amendment privilege, and he has the right to assert it.” The circumstances “regrettably made his continued cooperation impossible.” NBC reported the pardon was a factor, because Republicans had suggested it would not cover new statements. source
• Committee members: Republicans questioned his advice on lockdowns and his account of virus origins. Democrats described the hearing as an effort to entrap him into perjury; Ranking Member Peters said it “does real damage” and would deter experts from public service. source source

What has happened since

• 6 Aug 2026: The committee voted 8-7 along party lines to hold him in contempt and approved a resolution asking the President of the Senate to certify it to the US Attorney for DC. source source source
• 6 Aug 2026: Paul delivered the referral straight to the Justice Department without a full Senate vote. A DOJ spokesperson said the department was “reviewing it and will work with the Senate accordingly.” source source
• Late Aug-Sep 2026: The WSJ reported the push had stalled, with officials questioning whether skipping a full Senate vote is procedurally sound. Legal commentators note that the contempt statute (2 U.S.C. 194) and a 1966 appeals ruling require the full chamber to act while it is in session. source source source
• As of 22 Oct 2026: The guide found no public report of any charge against Dr Fauci. Separately, his former adviser David Morens pleaded guilty on 18 Aug 2026; sentencing was set for November. source source

Watch (links open at the moment shown; nothing plays on this page)

Timestamps are for C-SPAN's full-length upload on YouTube and were checked against its captions. The official committee video is on the hearing page. Short news clips: CNN CBS. Write-ups: AP Reuters NBC. source source

• 0:00:00 Chairman Paul's opening statement (the upload joins it in progress).
• 0:12:25 Ranking Member Peters' opening statement.
• 0:21:37 Fauci is recognised and reads his prepared statement, ending by invoking the Fifth Amendment.
• 0:25:40 First question and first invocation; Paul points to 2 U.S.C. 192 in the red folder.
• 0:40:20 Paul says he has denied the privilege claim “despite the existence of the pardon”; Fauci's lawyer is then removed from the room.
• 1:15:36 Senator Blumenthal declines to question and compares the hearing to the McCarthy era.
• 1:41:22 Senator Hawley asks simple questions (day of the week, tie colour); each gets the same answer.
• 2:53:00 Paul announces a committee vote on contempt the following week.

Earlier clips cited in the table

• 0:01:22 16 Jul 2021: Walensky, “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated” (White House).
• 0:00:51 9 Sep 2021: Biden, “the vaccine is safe, effective, and free” (White House).
• 0:02:48 9 Sep 2021: Biden, “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated” (White House).
• 0:01:50 11 May 2021: Fauci to Senator Paul on Wuhan funding (The Hill).
• 0:03:26 20 Jul 2021: “Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about” (C-SPAN).
• 0:06:03 20 Jul 2021: “if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you” (C-SPAN).
• 0:00:29 8 Mar 2020: “There's no reason to be walking around with a mask” (60 Minutes).

Dr Deborah Birx: statements in her own words

Dr Birx was the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator in 2020-21. These are her own words from her 2022 book, her sworn House testimony, and a 2022 television interview.

• 2022, book, on extending “15 Days”: “No sooner had we convinced the Trump administration to implement our version of a two-week shutdown than I was trying to figure out how to extend it. Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread was a start, but I knew it would be just that. I didn't have the numbers in front of me yet to make the case for extending it longer, but I had two weeks to get them.” Fauci later described the 15 days as “an empiric choice on the part of Debbie”. source source source
• 2022, book, on the gathering limit: “I had settled on ten knowing that even that was too many, but I figured that ten would at least be palatable for most Americans…” The word “palatable” in the book refers to the ten-person limit and to making measures acceptable to the administration; the book does not say the 15-day length itself was chosen for that reason. source source
• 2022, book, on early messaging: “We had to make these palatable to the administration by avoiding the obvious appearance of a full Italian lockdown. At the same time, we needed the measures to be effective at slowing the spread…” Her stated aim: slow spread without the word “lockdown”, which she says would have got her sidelined. source source
• 2022, book, on her reports to state governors: “Our Saturday and Sunday report-writing routine soon became: write, submit, revise, hide, resubmit.” She describes putting back advice that White House officials had edited out, so that governors still received it. source source
• 23 Jun 2022, House testimony, asked whether officials were guessing or lying when they said vaccinated people could not transmit: “I think it was hope that the vaccine would work in that way, and that is why I think scientists and public health leaders always have to be at the table, being very clear about what we know and what we do not know.” Also: “we never had the data that it was going to protect against asymptomatic infection.” She explained the original trials measured only symptomatic disease. source
• 23 Jun 2022, House testimony, on deaths in the first year: She agreed with a member's summary that “more than 130,000 American lives could have been saved” with better mitigation: “Through that first year of the pandemic, correct.” This is her own estimate, drawn from a 2021 interview with the subcommittee. source
• 22 Jul 2022, Fox News, on vaccines: “I knew these vaccines were not going to protect against infection. And I think we overplayed the vaccines, and it made people then worry that it's not going to protect against severe disease and hospitalization. It will.” In the same answer she urged vaccination and boosters, especially for people over 70. Video is on the Fox page. source source

How this section was built: we included only items with a primary source (an official transcript, letter, court document or the original broadcast) or a direct quotation from one, and quoted them exactly. Where a quote is taken from a book, we link both the book and the review that reproduces the passage. Morens's 2024 testimony is summarised from news reports; the hearing page is here: source.

Retracted and removed papers

Removal alone does not prove a paper right or wrong; here is each case so you can weigh it.

Vaccine-safety papers that a journal or preprint server retracted, withdrew or removed, with the journal's stated reason. Only cases with a notice or a publisher statement this guide could check are listed. Listed by publication date.

Removed without a formal retraction notice

• Mawson et al., Frontiers in Public Health 2016 / Journal of Translational Science 2017: Survey of homeschooled children reporting more chronic illness in vaccinated children. Frontiers removed the provisionally accepted paper in 2016. The 2017 journal told Retraction Watch it had retracted it, but the paper is back on the publisher's site and no formal retraction notice was found. Retraction Watch paper

For balance: retractions on the other side

This guide looked for retracted papers that had concluded vaccines are safe or effective. No retraction of a paper with a vaccine-safety conclusion was verified. The nearest case found:

• Ramsay et al., BMC Medicine 2017: Influenza vaccine-effectiveness meta-analysis (repeated vaccination); retracted by its own authors on 12 Aug 2018 for 'erroneous inclusions and an omission of estimates' that affected some conclusions. source

GAP: other retractions sometimes cited (for example papers by Classen, and other Shaw/Tomljenovic papers) were not verified against a notice and are not listed.

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.

Terms used in the injury, SIDS and retraction sections

VAERS

Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, run by CDC and FDA. Anyone can report a health problem after a vaccine. A report does not show the vaccine caused it.

Serious report

In VAERS, a report of death, a life-threatening illness, a hospital stay or a longer stay, permanent disability, or a birth defect.

VICP / VDPS

The US Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the UK Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, which pay people found (or agreed in a settlement, in the US) to have been harmed by a vaccine.

SIDS, SUID and unascertained

SIDS: the sudden death of a baby under 1 that stays unexplained after a full investigation. SUID (US) adds deaths of unknown cause and accidental suffocation in bed. "Unascertained" (England and Wales) means the cause could not be found.

Self-controlled study

A study that compares the same child's risk in the days just after a vaccine with that child's risk at other times, so the child is their own comparison.

Crude incidence

Cases in a year divided by the whole population, with no adjustment for age or vaccination.

Retracted, withdrawn, removed

Retracted: the journal publishes a notice that the paper should no longer be relied on, but the paper stays visible, marked. Withdrawn: usually an accepted paper taken down before final publication. Removed: taken off the site, sometimes with no notice.

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.