DPT (Recommended--up to 5 doses, 2,4,6,12/12 months & 4-6 yrs)
Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/VIS/default.htm
As with every medicine, vaccines carry a small risk of serious harm, such as severe
allergic reaction or even death.
Non stop crying (3 hours or more)---100 of every 10,000 doses (one in 100)
Fever of 105 or higher ----------30 of every 10,000 doses
Seizure (jerking or staring)------------6 of every 10,000 doses
Child becomes limp, pale, less alert----6 of every 10,000 doses (Whale comment: this works out at 1 child in 333)
There are two kinds of serious reactions:
Severe allergic reaction (breathing difficulty, shock)
Severe brain reaction (long seizure, coma or lowered consciousness)
Is there lasting damage?
Experts disagree on whether pertussis vaccines cause lasting brain damage
If they do, it is very rare.
"The following significant adverse events have occurred following administration of DTP vaccines: persistent, inconsolable crying >= 3 hours (1/100 doses), high-pitched, unusual crying (1/1000 doses), fever >= 40.5degC (1/330 doses), transient shock-like (hypotonic, hyporesponsive) episode (1/1750 doses), convulsions (1/1750 doses)."--TETRAMUNE (DTPH) (1996) http://www.netlink.co.nz/~ias/tetram.htm At Whale
"On the basis of our own experience, the incidence of seizures approximates 1:4800 infants vaccinated or 1:12 800 vaccinations. According to a recent prospective study from the USA, the incidence of seizures may be closer to 1:600 infants."---.. Tonz O (1980), Bajc S. [Convulsions after whooping-cough vaccination]. [Article in German] Schweiz Med Wochenschr 1980 Dec 20;110(51):1965-71.
[2002 pdf] Antibodies to Squalene in Recipients of Anthrax Vaccine Adjuvant disease has been shown to have a latency of onset in humans ranging from 2 weeks to 18 years after exposure (Brawer, 1996).
Note 1:310,000 doses translates to an actual risk of 1:62,000 this figure is from the National Childhood Encephalopathy Study which excluded any child whose seizure lasted for less than 30 minutes and who was not hospitalised as a result of their seizure.)
In one study, serious reactions to the DPT vaccine (including grand mal
epilepsy and encephalopathy) were shown to be as high as 1 in 600. In another study,
approximately one out of every 200 children who received the full DPT series suffered
Immunization: Survey of Recent Research, (United States Department of Health and Human Services, April 1983), p. 76.
A study revealed that 1 in 175 children who completed the full DPT suffered severe reactions ("Nature and Rates of Adverse Reactions Associated with DPT and DT Immunizations in Infants and Children" [Paediatrics, Nov. 1981, Vol.68, No.5]) and a Dr.'s report for attorneys which found that 1 in 300 DPT immunizations resulted in seizures (The Fresno Bee, Community Relations, DPT Report, Dec 5, 1984).
"Dr. Kevin Geraghty, Bay Area Physicians for the Study of Pertussis Vaccines: "The UCLA study showed one in 600 kids have shock like episodes. That is not controversial......Im convinced in my heart of hearts that 100 American infants a year are dying and another 250 are brain-damaged from DPT. I would be prepared to clinically defend that to scientists." Geraghty believes as many as one in 15,000 children suffer brain damage and as many as one in 35,000 die following DPT vaccination."---Fresno Bee, DPT report 1984.
MMR (2 doses, 12-15 months, 4-6 years)
Vaccine Information Statements http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/VIS/default.htm
If these problems occur, it is usually within 7-12 days after the shot. They occur less often after the second dose
Severe Problems (very rare)
Long-term seizures, coma, or lowered consciousness
Permanent brain damage
"When notifications of meningitis (from MMR vaccine) from physicians were included; when the vaccine records of hospital cases of meningitis were included; when cross linkage of vaccine records from laboratory reports (4 laboratories) was performed and included the figure was increased to 1 in 11,000. It should be noted that in the case of one particular laboratory, this was 1 in 4,000. "----- Paul Shattock and Dawn Savery, Autism Research Unit, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK.
MMR figures of meningitis (Japan 1993)Adverse events which may occur within 48 hours of DPT vaccination