Understanding the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)

Details

• Alternative Title:
  VAERS
• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; United States. Food and Drug Administration. ; American Academy of Family Physicians. ; American Academy of Pediatrics.
• Description:
  • The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is one component of the United States’ comprehensive vaccine safety monitoring system.
  
  • VAERS reports are monitored carefully by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
  
  • Reports of adverse events (possible side effects) after vaccination do not mean that the reported problem was caused by a vaccine. Reports are signals that alert scientists of possible cause-and- effect relationships that need to be investigated.
  
  • Anyone can submit a report to VAERS including health care professionals, vaccine manufacturers, vaccine recipients, and parents or family members of people who have received a vaccine.
  
  Adverse events reported to VAERS are not necessarily side effects caused by vaccination. An adverse event is a health problem that happens after vaccination that may or may not be caused by a vaccine. These events may require further investigation. By definition, a side effect has been shown to be linked to a vaccine by scientific studies.
  
  231405Q
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems/Bibliography Vaccines/adverse Effects
• Document Type:
  Pamphlet (or booklet)
• Name as Subject:
  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
• Pages in Document:
  2 unumbered pages
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:e7f404015c10a4542ea496c518aa48a9b2357ee5e127a8a9a3ed683dada4b1ab
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/31648/cdc_31648_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 295.10 KB ]