Vaccine Facts
About Vaccines
Vaccines are one of the most effective tools for protecting yourself, your family, and the people around you from disease. Vaccines have prevented millions of deaths, disabilities, and diseases, including diseases that lead to chronic illnesses and cancers. All vaccines are tested for safety and effectiveness before they are approved for use. It is important to get yourself and your children all recommended vaccines on time in order to avoid serious health consequences from vaccine-preventable illnesses. Read below for more information on vaccines and vaccine safety.
Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions
Are vaccines safe?
Yes. Vaccines are the safest and most effective way to prevent several diseases and the lifelong consequences of these diseases, including chronic illnesses, disabilities, cancers, and death. All vaccines are tested for safety and effectiveness before they are approved for use. Learn more about vaccines safety through the links below.
- Are Vaccines Safe for children? The Truth About Risks and Benefits (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- The Science of Vaccine Safety in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins University)
- Vaccines and Immunization: Vaccine Safety (World Health Organization)
Can I delay my child’s vaccines until they are older?
Delaying vaccination puts your child and others at risk. Vaccines are recommended at ages your child can most effectively and safely receive them. There is no benefit to delaying vaccination but risks child becoming infected with preventable illnesses.
Do vaccines cause autism?
No. Decades of studies, including more than 1 million children, have repeatedly confirmed there is no link between vaccines and autism. This claim largely originated from a 1998 study of 12 children that claimed to find a link between vaccines and autism. This study was later retracted and the author lost his medical license because data in his study was confirmed to be fraudulent, and the author was being paid by lawyers who wanted to sue vaccine manufacturers.
No environmental factor has been more studied for any connection to autism than vaccines, and these studies have repeatedly confirmed that vaccines do not in any way cause autism. Visit the links below for more information and lists of studies.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
What’s in vaccines?
All vaccines contain antigens. They prompt the body to create the immune response needed to protect against infection. Other common vaccine ingredients include:
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Preservatives keep the vials from becoming contaminated with germs.
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Adjuvants help the body create a better immune response. The most common adjuvants are aluminum salts.
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Additives help the vaccine stay effective while it is being stored.
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Residuals of the vaccine production process. Some ingredients are needed to make the vaccine. Although these ingredients are removed, residual (tiny) amounts remain in the final product.
All vaccines have been studied and are safe in the amount used in vaccines. This amount is much less than children encounter in their environment, food and water. More detailed information about vaccine ingredients can be found here.
Vaccine ingredients for all vaccines available in the United States are public information and can be found on the FDA website here.
How are vaccines tested?
When a new vaccine is developed, it goes through multiple rounds of research and testing. This process begins with lab research and animal testing, followed by multiple phases of clinical trials to ensure the vaccine is both safe and effective.
Every vaccine recommended for children has undergone extensive research—including clinical trials that often use placebos or comparison groups—to ensure it is safe and effective.
Click here for a detailed explanation of how vaccines are developed and tested.
Are vaccine side effects safe?
Like most medications, vaccines can have side effects, but these side effects are almost always mild and short-term, like a sore arm or mild fever. More serious side effects are possible but extremely rare, and the risk of serious health issues is significantly higher from developing a vaccine-preventable illness than from receiving a vaccine.
Vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, meningitis, hepatitis B or polio can be deadly or cause severe illness and disability. Possible complications of these diseases can include blindness, deafness, paralysis, brain damage, infertility, cancer, birth defects and death. These illnesses all have highly effective vaccines that have been used in millions of people for decades.
Is it safe for my child to get multiple vaccines at once?
Yes! Children’s bodies can safely handle multiple vaccines at once. Each childhood vaccine has been carefully tested on its own and in combination with others, and every combination of vaccines your child receives is safe. This does not overwhelm your child's immune system. Click here to learn more about getting multiple vaccines at once.
Vaccine Schedule FAQs
What is the childhood vaccine schedule (immunization schedule)?
The childhood vaccine schedule is an outline of which vaccines doctors recommend for children and at what ages they should be vaccinated. The schedule was developed by medical experts to provide your children with protection against illnesses at ages the vaccines can be received safely and will work best with the child’s immune system. The schedule also takes into account at what ages children are most at risk of the illnesses.
Why is the childhood vaccine schedule changing? Has disease risk or vaccine safety changed?
No, there is no new information and no changes in vaccine safety or risk of diseases. Vaccines continue to be the best way to protect your children from several illnesses, including illnesses that can cause long-term health damage, disability, and death. Delaying or skipping vaccination increases your child’s risk of illness and contributes to more viruses spreading in the community.
Why do other countries recommend different vaccines?
Different countries recommend different vaccines because certain factors make vaccines more or less important or available in different countries. These factors include risk of certain diseases being higher or lower; differences in the countries’ populations; which vaccines are available in each country; differences in access to healthcare; and more. The U.S. vaccine schedule was developed to take into account our unique healthcare structures, population, and prevalence of certain diseases. These factors all play a role in disease risk and the importance of protection from vaccines.
Can I still choose to get my child vaccinated even if the vaccine schedule has changed?
Yes. Vaccines continue to be available and important to protect your child’s short-term and long-term health. It is important not to delay or skip vaccination, as this exposes your child to unnecessary risk. Medicaid, the Vaccines for Children Program, and private insurance will still cover vaccines on the original vaccine schedule at this time.
Where can I find the unchanged vaccine schedule?
The vaccine schedule prior to recent changes continues to be recommended by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. It can be found through the American Academy of Pediatrics website here.
Hepatitis B vaccine FAQs
How do babies get hepatitis B?
Babies can become infected with hepatitis B by their mother during birth or by other family members or caregivers they come into contact with. It can be transmitted to newborns through contact with the blood, open sores or saliva with traces of blood of an infected person. The virus can survive for up to 7 days in tiny dried blood particles on surfaces and objects. This includes personal items people use regularly and sometimes share. About 1 in 2 people with hepatitis B do not know they are infected, putting them at high risk of accidentally infecting babies.
Learn more about hepatitis B in babies here.
Does my baby still need to be vaccinated even if I test negative for hepatitis B?
Yes. Hepatitis B can also be passed to babies by people other than their mother, like other family members or caregivers, and about 1 in 2 people with hepatitis B do not know they have it, so it is important to vaccinate all babies even if their mother has been tested.
Can I still choose to get my baby vaccinated even if guidance has changed?
Yes. All babies still can and should be vaccinated with hepatitis B, beginning with the first dose within 24 hours of birth.
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Why do all babies need hepatitis B vaccines?
Hepatitis B can also be passed to babies by their mother during birth or by other family members or caregiver. About 1 in 2 people with hepatitis B do not know they have it, so it is impossible to predict when your baby may come into contact with an infected person. Vaccination for all babies has been recommended since 1991. Cases of hepatitis B have droped 99% since then.
Can I delay vaccination until they are older?
Babies infected with hepatitis B in their first year of life have a 90% chance of developing chronic hepatitis B. This can lead to serious liver damage, liver cancer, and 1 in 4 people who develop chronic hepatitis B will die from the disease. It is critical to get babies vaccinated as soon as possible, beginning within 24 hours of birth, to prevent infection and protect their lifelong health.
Why has guidance changed? Has something changed?
No, there is no new information or changes in vaccine safety or risk of hepatitis B. Getting your baby vaccinated beginning within 24 hours of birth continues to be safe, highly effective, and extremely important for protecting their lifelong health.
Measles Vaccine FAQs
Is natural immunity better than vaccination?
No. Measles is a very serious illness that can cause brain swelling, deafness, intellectual disability, SSPE (a brain disease that appears years after initial measles infection and is almost always fatal), other long-term health illness, and death. The measles vaccine is safe and more over 97% effective at preventing measles for life. Infection is not a safe way to develop immunity to measles.
Does vitamin A prevent or cure measles?
Vitamin A does not prevent or cure measles. It is no replacement for the measles vaccine. In fact, too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems.
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If your child has measles, your doctor may give two doses of vitamin A, 24 hours apart. This is because if a child has vitamin A deficiency, they have a higher chance of having a severe case of measles.
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Vitamin A treatment for measles can only help if a child is already sick. It does not cure the infection, but it may help to prevent measles from becoming more severe. Vitamin A as treatment for measles should only be given with your doctor's guidance. Giving your child too much vitamin A can cause vitamin A toxicity.
Most children get enough vitamin A in their diet from foods. Always talk to your child's doctor before giving them any new vitamins or supplements.
Learn more from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs
Do COVID-19 vaccines work?
COVID-19 vaccines can help reduce your risk of infection and are even more effective at reducing your risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. Because it is still possible to get COVID-19 after being vaccinated, it is still important to take other precautions to protect yourself, but vaccines can help greatly reduce your risk of serious illness if you do become sick.
Why do we have to get new doses every year?
Just like the annual flu shot, the COVID-19 vaccine changes each year to better match current variants. It is important to get updated doses to be best protected from the current virus and to boost your protection that has decreased over time since your last dose.
Can the COVID-19 vaccine cause COVID-19?
No. COVID-19 vaccines do not contain the live virus that causes COVID-19 and cannot cause you to become ill. Like with all vaccines, you may experience side effects after vaccination, but this is not dangerous and is a case of COVID-19.
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Who should get COVID-19 vaccines?
All people age 6 months and older should be vaccinated against COVID-19, even if you have no other health issues. All people can experience severe illness and death from COVID-19. Vaccines greatly reduce your risk of serious illness if you become sick with COVID-19.
Do mRNA COVID-19 vaccines impact your DNA?
No. mRNA vaccines do not enter the nucleus of your cells, where your DNA is stored, and cannot alter your DNA in any way.
Get Additional Information
Additional Resources
Find additional accurate information about vaccines by visiting the websites below.
