Vaccines are ‘remarkably safe,’ 20-year review says

At a moment when the world’s hopes are riding on the rapid development and distribution of a vaccine to prevent Covid-19, vaccine hesitancy is also rising. A new review of 20 years of data collected after 57 vaccines were approved by the FDA offers reassurance. After hundreds of millions of vaccines were administered, one vaccine (for rotavirus infection) was withdrawn and 58 changes were made to the labels of other vaccines reflecting safety issues. Most of those involved patients whose immune systems were compromised or preterm infants, followed by people with allergies. “Vaccines were remarkably safe,” the researchers wrote. “Vaccines are rightly considered as one of the greatest achievements of biomedical science and public health.”