SIDS & vaccination citations
Citations  SIDS

Bernier RH, et al (1982). Diphtheria-tetanus toxoids-pertussis vaccination and sudden infant deaths in Tennessee. J Pediatr. 1982 Sep;101(3):419-21. No abstract available. PMID: 7108666; UI: 82268390. Tennessee cluster stirs inquiries (Fresno Bee DPT report 1984)

Torch, W.S., 1982. Diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) immunization: a potential cause of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Neurology; 32(4): A169 abstract).

"At the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, presented a study linking the DPT shot with SIDS. Torch concluded: "These data show that DPT vaccination may be a generally unrecognized major cause of sudden infant and early childhood death, and that the risks of immunization may outweigh its potential benefits. A need for reevaluation and possible modification of current vaccination procedures is indicated by this study." --Harris Coulter

Mortimer EA Jr, et al (1983). DTP and SIDS. Pediatr Infect Dis. 1983 Nov-Dec;2(6):492-3. No abstract available. PMID: 6657506; UI: 84095192.

Baraff LJ, et al (1983) Possible temporal association between diphtheria-tetanus toxoid-pertussis vaccination and sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatr Infect Dis. 1983 Jan-Feb;2(1):7-11. PMID: 6835859; UI: 83169234.
Because diphtheria and tetanus toxoids pertussis (DTP) vaccine is routinely given during the period of highest incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), this study was undertaken to determine if there is a temporal association between DTP immunization and SIDS. Parents of 145 SIDS victims who died in Los Angeles County between January 1, 1979, and August 23, 1980, were contacted and interviewed regarding their child's recent immunization history. Fifty-three had received a DTP immunization. Of these 53, 27 had received a DTP immunization within 28 days of death. Six SIDS deaths occurred within 24 hours and 17 occurred within 1 week of DTP immunization. These SIDS deaths were significantly more than expected were there no association between DTP immunization and SIDS. An additional 46 infants had a physician/clinic visit without DTP immunization prior to death. Forty of these infants died within 28 days of this visit, seven on the third day and 22 within the first week following the visit. These deaths were also significantly more than expected. These data suggest a temporal association between DTP immunization, physician visits without DTP immunization and SIDS. PMID: 6835859, UI: 83169234 "They found a statistically significant excess of deaths in the first day and the first week after vaccination, i.e., a "temporal association." They rejected the use of a "control group," and instead relied on the intuitively obvious assumption that "there should be no temporal association between DPT immunization and SIDS were there no causal relationship between these two events." I have not found any criticism of this article for relying on "anecdotal evidence." This study was not financed by the US Government but apparently by the UCLA School of Medicine and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services."--Harris Coulter 

Geraghty KC.  DTP immunization and SIDS.J Pediatr. 1984 Jul;105(1):169-71. No abstract available.PMID: 6610735 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Torch, W.C., 1986 a. Characteristics of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) postvaccinal deaths and DPT-caused Sudden Infant Deaths Syndrome (SIDS): a review. Neurology (suppl 1); 36: 148 (abstract).

Torch, W.C., 1986 b. Diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) imunization may be an unrecognized cause of Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) and Near-Miss Syndrome (NMS): 12 case reports. Neurology (suppl 1); 36: 149 (abstract).

Walker AM, et al (1987).  Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization and sudden infant death syndrome. Am J Public Health. 1987 Aug;77(8):945-51. PMID: 3496805; UI: 87268250.
We compared the recency of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) immunization in healthy children with birthweights greater than 2500 gms who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to that of age-matched reference children, using a modified case-control analysis. Focusing on very narrow time intervals following immunization, we found the SIDS mortality rate in the period zero to three days following DTP to be 7.3 times that in the period beginning 30 days after immunization (95 per cent confidence interval, 1.7 to 31). The mortality rate of non-immunized infants was 6.5 times that of immunized infants of the same age (95 per cent CI, 2.2 to 19). The latter result and to some extent the former appear to be ascribable to known risk factors for SIDS. Although the mortality ratios for SIDS following DTP, as estimated from this study, are high the period of apparently elevated risk was very short, so that only a small proportion of SIDS cases in infants with birthweights greater than 2500 gms could be associated with DTP. PMID: 3496805, UI: 87268250

"This study supports a link between the DPT shot and "sudden infant death syndrome." The authors examined the records of all children born in the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound between 1972 and 1983 to see how many had died of SIDS. Total births recorded during this period were 35,581, but of them only 26,500 were eligible for the study. Not all deaths of infants during this period were considered to be SIDS. "All deaths which on the basis of death certificate diagnosis, hospital discharge data, and pharmacy use taken together could be clearly ascribed to causes not related to immunization were excluded." Ultimately, "SIDS was defined as any death for which no cause could be discerned among infants of normal birthweight and without predisposing medical conditions." But, despite these exclusions and restrictions, the authors found "the SIDS mortality rate in the period 0-3 days following a DPT shot to be 7.3 times that in the period beginning 30 days after immunization." They called the results of this study "worrisome" but consoled themselves with the thought that "only a small proportion of SIDS cases in infants with birthweights greater than 2500 grams could be associated with DPT." A particular criticism to be made of this study is that children with "predisposing medical conditions" were excluded and their deaths were not considered to be SIDS, whereas in actuality children with "predisposing medical conditions" are routinely vaccinated."--Harris Coulter 

Noble GR, et al (1987). Acellular and whole-cell pertussis vaccines in Japan. Report of a visit by US scientists. JAMA. 1987 Mar 13;257(10):1351-6. PMID: 3820444; UI: 87141495.
In 1985 twin boys simultaneously succumbed to sudden unexpected deaths two to three hours after vaccination with diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine (DTP). This occurrence again raises the question of whether an association of sudden infant death (SID) with vaccination is other than temporal. Taking the incidence of SID in conjunction with rates of infant vaccination in the United Kingdom, nine infants would be expected to die, each year by chance alone, suddenly within 24 hours of (and within each 24 hour period succeeding) vaccination with DTP. Twins are at a greater risk of SID than single born infants and occasionally are found dead together. A number of studies into DTP vaccination as a risk factor in SID have shown that SID is less common in vaccinated than in unvaccinated infants. PMID: 3498443, UI: 87325057 

Hoffman HJ, et al (1987).    Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization and sudden infant death: results of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Cooperative Epidemiological Study of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome risk factors. Pediatrics. 1987 Apr;79(4):598-611. PMID: 3493477; UI: 87146149

"This sort of attempted (statistical) comparison can only be described as a shambles, a grotesque imitation of scientific method designed to fool the public (and the journalists who are supposed to be monitoring precisely this sort of intellectual dishonesty). It would have made as much sense to interview the first 1600 people they could pick up in the Greyhound Bus Station and ask them about their vaccination status. But this article had its effect. Dr. Torch was effectively silenced, and for years this pseudo-science has been cited as one of the medical establishment's principal weapons in its drive to extend childhood vaccination programs. How do you react when your own government lies to you systematically about life-and-death questions? As I have noted earlier, the answer is political action in the state legislatures, and one weapon in the hands of the public is an understanding of the pseudo-science and pseudo-epidemiology represented by articles like this one."--Harris Coulter  

Cherry, J.D. (1988), Brunell, P.A., Golden, G.S., Karzon, D.T., (1988), Report of the task force on pertussis and pertussis immunization, Pediatrics 81:6 Part 11 (June 1988) Supplement pp 936-984.
Excerpt: The rate of severe reactions does not differ significantly between the acellular and whole-cell vaccines when used at 24 months of age. The decrease in severe reactions is slight, if any. The category "sudden death" is also instructive in that the entity disappeared following both whole-cell and acellular vaccines when immunisation was delayed until a child was 24 months of age. It is clear that delaying the initial vaccination until a child is 24 months, regardless of the type of vaccine, reduces most of the temporally associated severe adverse events.

Walker AM, et al (1988).  Neurologic events following diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization. Pediatrics. 1988 Mar;81(3):345-9. PMID: 3257822; UI: 88143851.
The frequency of serious neurologic events following the administration of 106,000 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound was determined using a population-based case-control study with disease ascertainment through pharmacy and hospitalization records. There were no cases of acute unexplained encephalopathies in close temporal relation to vaccination. There was the new onset of one serious seizure disorder in the three days following immunization, with 1.13 expected on the basis of chance alone. PMID: 3257822, UI: 88143851

 

Griffin MR, et al.  Risk of sudden infant death syndrome after immunization with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. N Engl J Med. 1988 Sep 8;319(10):618-23. PMID: 3261837; UI: 88318811.
Griffin MR, et al. Risk of seizures and encephalopathy after immunization with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. JAMA. 1990 Mar 23-30;263(12):1641-5. PMID: 2308203; UI: 90172513.
"Two studies by teams of epidemiologists headed by Marie R. Griffin represent perhaps the absolute worst I have encountered in many years of reading this literature.......It is amazing that such a study (1988 NEJM) could be accepted by a reputable scientific journal. The reason was doubtless that the study was funded by the CDC and the FDA, and that two of the coauthors (Griffin and Ray) were at the time "Burroughs Wellcome Scholars in pharmacoepidemiology" (whatever that is). Burroughs-Wellcome is, of course, a major producer of the pertussis vaccine. Have these people never heard of conflict of interest?........These kinds of articles bring the Public Health Service, the CDC, the FDA, the "peer-reviewed" journals, and the rest of the medical-industrial-government complex into disrepute. Physicians can swallow this garbage if they want, since they make their living from it, but parents who expect at least elementary honesty from those who call themselves "scientists," and whose children are being maimed and crippled by the very vaccines which are proclaimed innocuous by authors such as Griffin et al. are already taking steps to put this invalid out of its misery. The relations between the public and the vaccine establishment are surely going to get a lot worse before they start getting any better."---Harris Coulter 

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