IOM’s New Report Reaffirms Safety of Vaccines

by National Press Foundation 0 comments

The Institue of Medicine of the National Acadamies (IOM) has relased a new report, titled "Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality." From the report's summary:

"Immunizations are a cornerstone of the nation's efforts to protect people from a host of infectious diseases. Though generally very rare or very minor, there are side effects, or "adverse effects," associated with some vaccines. The IOM reviewed a list of adverse events associated with eight vaccines to evaluate the scientific evidence about the event--vaccine relationship. Using epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence, the committee developed 158 causality conclusions, assigning each relationship between a vaccine and an adverse health problem to one of four causation categories. Overall, the IOM committee concludes that few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines."

More information and the full report can be found here.

UPDATE: The New York Times article on the report: "Vaccine Cleared Again as Autism Culprit".