18 assertions about vaccines: #18 Combining Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) and Vaccines Is Dangerous.

Point #18

The following are NOT opinions, but actual verifiable facts. Research any of it if you have doubts or just want to expand your knowledge.

18) giving Tylenol right before or after a vaccination increases the risk of adverse reactions. Many children experience fever, redness, and generally may not feel well for a day or two following vaccines, and yet parents give them medicine to make them more comfortable, unknowingly increasing the risk of damaging their child's health.

Another nested claim

1. Fever, redness at the injection site, and malaise are "adverse reactions" to vaccines
2. Overall, adverse reactions to vaccines are common.
3. Administering  Tylenol (acetaminophen, paracetamol) increases the risk of "adverse reactions"
4. Administering Tylenol (acetaminophen, paracetamol) to children before or after immunizations "may damage children's health"?

Discussion

First of all, let's clear up some terminology:

:

• Side Effect: Problems that occur when treatment goes beyond the desired effect. Or problems that occur in addition to the desired effect.
• Adverse Reaction: In pharmacology, any unexpected or dangerous reaction to a drug. An unwanted effected caused by the administration of a drug.
• Adverse Event: Unwanted and usually harmful outcomes. The event may or may not be related to the treatment and is not the same as a side effect or adverse reaction because it is not always clear whether the drug has caused the event.

Do  "fever, redness, and generally may not feel well" following routine childhood immunizations qualify as "side effects" or "adverse reactions"? According to the CDC,  "transient fevers and pain at the injection site" are side effects.  The UK's National Health Service list these signs as "side effects". The very reliable website The History of Vaccines has an excellent article on expected side effects from vaccination, and how adverse effects are monitored.  The reactions mentioned are listed as "side effects".

Third, how common are adverse reactions?  In Deaths following vaccination: What does the evidence show?, Miller et al. review the evidence. Anaphylaxis is a very rare adverse reaction to immunization; the risk of anaphylaxis is less than two cases per million doses of vaccines administered to children and adolescents. They went on to propose: "Serious adverse reactions are uncommon and deaths caused by vaccines are very rare. Healthcare providers can take specific actions to help prevent adverse reactions, including proper screening for contraindications and precautions and observing a 15-minute waiting period after vaccinating to prevent fall-related injuries from syncope"  In Causality assessment of adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), Loughlin et al. found that just 3% of adverse events reported to VAERS could be unequivocally assigned to vaccines.

So to summarize: the consensus is that the conditions the author listed (ever, redness, malaise) are side effects, not adverse effects. 

Is it true that giving acetaminophen to a child "increases the risk of adverse reactions"?

A PubMed search had null results

What is the source of the claim that acetaminophen is hazardous in the context of immunization. ? I wasn't able to find a point source. The peer-reviewed literature, such as "The effect of antipyretics on immune response and fever following receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine in young childre, and Effect of prophylactic or therapeutic administration of paracetamol on immune response to DTwP-HepB-Hib combination vaccine in Indian infants, and A randomized study of fever prophylaxis and the immunogenicity of routine pediatric vaccinations. did not validate this claim at all. 

VERDICT: MIXED, A combination of OBJECTIVE FACT and THE AUTHOR'S OPINION.

Here is the list of claims, with links to the discussion of each claim:

• Bonus: Claim that "I'm doing the research that your pediatrician NEVER had to do."
• #1 Combined doses of Vaccines have NEVER been tested for safety. 
• #2 Vaccine manufacturers have been granted legal immunity from being sued when their products inflict damage. 
• #3 DNA from aborted fetuses is in vaccines.  
• #4 the CDC has been caught destroying and hiding evidence  
• #5 outbreaks occur in populations that are up to 90-99% vaccinated -- herd immunity a myth 
• #6 More people die from the MMR vaccine itself than die of the measles. 
• #7 Peanut allergies were almost unheard of prior to the use of peanut oil in vaccines. 
• #8 Multiple independent studies have shown vaccinated children are more likely to have asthma. 
• #9 Information on vaccines is hidden from parents.
• #10 Vaccine package inserts prove the dangers of vaccines.
• #11 Doctors are bribed to vaccinate
• #12 Vaccine manufacturers and the CDC are only self-regulated
• #13 Doctors are ill-informed about vaccines 
• #14 Vaccines cause SIDS&
• #15 Diseases have been renamed after the introduction of a vaccine. 
• #16 The anti-vaccine movement isn't new  
• #17 All live virus vaccines shed and cause diseases  
• #18 Combining acetaminophen and vaccines is dangerous. 
• Bonus: MTHFR gene variants and vaccination