Vaccination is deliberate immune stimulation with antigens, usually as injected or oral products on childhood and adult schedules. This page collects source-linked cohort and reanalysis findings; it is not medical advice.

History

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Childhood schedules expanded over decades. Individual products differ in antigen, adjuvant, and dosing age. Policy lists and real-world outcomes are separate questions: schedule membership is not the same as a measured health endpoint.

Although a proposal was made in 1958 to the World Health Organization to have an organized campaign of vaccination to eradicate smallpox throughout the world, there were many people opposed to the project, and it was only in 1967 that the project began, using “ring vaccination” around outbreaks to prevent spreading. The last natural case of smallpox occurred ten years later. The project cost an average of $23 million per year, with the affected nations paying two thirds of the cost.

— Ray Peat[1]

In January and February 1976 a new swine influenza strain, A/New Jersey, caused severe respiratory illness in 13 soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and one of them died. The virus was detected only from 19 January to 9 February and did not spread beyond the base, although up to 230 soldiers were infected (outbreak investigation).[2] The national vaccination program that followed was suspended on 16 December 1976 after reports of an ascending paralysis (GBS). National surveillance counted 532 GBS cases with onset after A/New Jersey vaccination, an attributable risk just under one case per 100,000 vaccinations, concentrated in the five weeks after the shot (surveillance study).[3]

In March 1979 Tennessee reported four sudden infant deaths, each within 24 hours of a first DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell pertussis) shot and all from the same vaccine lot, and public clinics stopped using that lot as a precaution.[4] The investigation found more deaths soon after that lot than chance would predict, but Tennessee's overall rate of sudden infant death did not rise, the lot passed potency and toxicity testing, and no other clusters were reported for the lot nationally.[5] In a later cohort study of Tennessee infants, sudden infant death was no more common in the month after a DTP shot than later in infancy, and it was less common in the first week after the shot.[6] In a large US case-control study, infants who died of sudden infant death had been given DTP less often than matched living infants, and deaths were not concentrated in the day after a shot.[7]

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 set up a no-fault compensation program paid from an excise tax on each vaccine dose. In return, no manufacturer is liable for injury or death from side effects "that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings." A 2011 US Supreme Court ruling holds that the Act preempts all design-defect claims against vaccine makers; claims for faulty manufacture or inadequate warnings remain open after the compensation program.[8]

In 2018, under pressure from a lawsuit, HHS was forced to reveal that it could provide absolutely no evidence of its work to improve vaccine safety in the 30 years since the 1986 law was passed.

— Ray Peat[9]

Findings

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A 2025 reanalysis of an unpublished Henry Ford Health birth cohort (16,511 vaccinated vs 1,957 unvaccinated) found higher crude rates in the vaccinated group across all 22 chronic-disease categories in Table 1, including any chronic condition (+250%) and asthma (+553%). Rounded Table 1 autism rates were +180% vaccinated; the abstract reports a 5.491-fold increase for symptoms characteristic of neuropathies in the autism spectrum; at ten years 57% vs 17% had at least one chronic disorder (crude contrasts; baseline and follow-up differed between arms).[10]

Injections and paralysis

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Intramuscular injections given during polio virus infection raise the risk of paralytic polio, an effect known since the early 20th century as provocation poliomyelitis. In a Romanian case-control study of 31 children with vaccine-associated paralytic polio (1988–1992), 87% had received at least one intramuscular injection in the 30 days before paralysis, against 51% of 151 matched controls. Ten or more injections raised the risk far more steeply, nearly all the injections were antibiotics, and 86% of cases were attributed to injections given after exposure to oral polio vaccine.[11]

[The New York State Health Department] study found that several kinds of injection were associated with an increased risk of paralysis in the injected limb, but that the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine was most strongly related to the effect. When injections were in the arm, there was a median delay of 23 days between the injection and paralysis, and when the injection was in the leg the median delay was 30 days. An experiment in mice showed the same effect of localized paralysis in the injected leg.

— Ray Peat[12]

Adjuvants

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Aluminum-adsorbed vaccines can leave long-lasting, intensely itching nodules (granulomas) at the injection site. In a Swedish prospective cohort of 4,758 infants given an aluminum-adsorbed five-in-one diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-polio vaccine, with or without a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, 38 children (0.83%) developed these granulomas. Contact allergy to aluminum was confirmed in 85% of them, symptoms lasted a median of 22 months, and adding a second aluminum vaccine to the schedule raised the risk from 0.63% to 1.18%.[13]

When evaluating the toxicity of a substance, it is always assumed that the placebo is neutral and nontoxic, such as a salt solution, a sugar, or something confidently known to be harmless. In the case of many vaccine “safety” tests, the control, as well as the vaccine, has contained aluminum.

— Ray Peat[14]

Influenza vaccines

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In a double-blind randomized trial in Hong Kong, 115 children aged 6–15 received trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine or placebo. Over the next nine months the vaccinated children had about 4.4 times the risk of laboratory-confirmed non-influenza respiratory virus infections, mostly common-cold viruses. Protection against seasonal influenza did not reach significance.[15] A test-negative study of US Department of Defense personnel in the 2017–2018 season found no overall rise in non-influenza respiratory viruses after flu vaccination. Vaccinated personnel had higher odds of the older seasonal corona viruses and HMPV, and lower odds of RSV and PIV.[16]

US influenza death figures mix counted and modeled deaths. National vital statistics for 2001 recorded 62,034 "influenza and pneumonia" deaths; 257 were attributed to influenza, and flu virus was identified in 18. The CDC figure of about 36,000 deaths a year is a modeled estimate of influenza-associated respiratory and circulatory deaths. At a 2004 summit co-sponsored by the CDC and the American Medical Association, a "Seven-Step Recipe" for generating demand for flu vaccination included experts publicly stating "concern and alarm (and predict dire outcomes)" (commentary).[17]

Finland's 2009–2010 campaign with the pandemic flu vaccine carrying the AS03 adjuvant was followed by a jump in childhood narcolepsy. In a retrospective cohort of all Finnish children born 1991–2005, narcolepsy incidence was 9.0 per 100,000 person-years in vaccinated 4- to 19-year-olds against 0.7 in unvaccinated ones, about one extra case per 16,000 vaccinated.[18]

Pregnancy

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Immune activation in a pregnant animal changes fetal brain development, and interleukin-6 carries much of the effect. In mice, one maternal IL-6 injection at mid-gestation produced deficits in two attention-filtering tests in the adult offspring, and an anti-IL-6 antibody given with the viral mimic poly(I:C) prevented its behavioral and gene-expression changes (animal study).[19]

But the literature is very clear that inflammation during pregnancy, including the inflammation from a vaccination, damages the fetus's brain, and autism is one of the outcomes of an inflammatory disrupted pregnancy.

— Ray Peat[20]

mRNA vaccines

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The lipid particle (LNP) that carries the messenger RNA has adjuvant activity of its own. In mice, an LNP formulation drove strong T follicular helper, germinal center and antibody responses, beat a squalene benchmark adjuvant, and depended on the ionizable lipid and on IL-6 (animal study).[21] LNP of the kind used in preclinical messenger RNA vaccine studies caused rapid inflammation with massive neutrophil infiltration after skin or muscle injection in mice, and given into the nose they caused high mortality (animal study).[22]

But the ingredient is described as a carrier, not as an adjuvant. But when you look up on Google, that specific lipid, it has been on the market as an adjuvant for vaccines. So if you take the actual historical proper name and function of that lipid, it would be called an adjuvant.

— Ray Peat[23]

In a human liver cell line, the Pfizer vaccine RNA (BNT162b2) entered cells quickly and shifted LINE-1, an enzyme that copies RNA into DNA, toward the nucleus; DNA matching the vaccine sequence was detected within 6 hours (in vitro).[24] In separate cell-culture work, LINE-1-mediated integration of SARS-CoV-2 sequences turned up in virus-infected cells but not in cells given viral messenger RNA alone (in vitro).[25]

I think the people who are talking about it and making it are probably totally unaware that our cells have lots and lots of reverse transcriptases just waiting for a bit of foreign RNA to come in to make copies and send it into our genome as permanent DNA.

— Ray Peat[26]


See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Ray Peat, "Contexts for Vaccinations", Ray Peat Newsletter, January 2020
  2. ↑ Gaydos JC, Top FH Jr, Hodder RA, Russell PK. "Swine influenza A outbreak, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1976." Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12(1):23–28. doi:10.3201/eid1201.050965. PMID Swine influenza a outbreak, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1976.
  3. ↑ Schonberger LB, Bregman DJ, Sullivan-Bolyai JZ, et al. "Guillain-Barre syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976–1977." Am J Epidemiol. 1979;110(2):105–123. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112795. PMID Guillain-Barre syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976--1977.
  4. ↑ Bernier RH, Frank JA Jr, Dondero TJ Jr, Turner P. "Diphtheria-tetanus toxoids-pertussis vaccination and sudden infant deaths in Tennessee," J Pediatr. 1982;101(3):419-421. PMID 7108666. CDC/Tennessee outbreak investigation of the March 1979 report (MMWR 1979;28:131-132). Paywalled; first page and the IOM summary read.
  5. ↑ Institute of Medicine. Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines, chapter 5. National Academies Press, 1991. doi:10.17226/1815. Summarizes Bernier et al. 1982: greater-than-expected temporal relation with lot A; 361,000 doses of lot A distributed; no evidence found to support a causal relationship.
  6. ↑ Griffin MR, Ray WA, Livengood JR, Schaffner W. "Risk of sudden infant death syndrome after immunization with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine," N Engl J Med. 1988;319(10):618-623. PMID 3261837. Retrospective cohort of 129,834 children born 1974-1984 in four urban Tennessee counties, 109 SIDS deaths; age-adjusted relative risk vs 31+ days after DTP: 0.18 (95% CI 0.04-0.8) at 0-3 days, 0.17 (0.04-0.7) at 4-7 days, 0.75 (0.4-1.5) at 8-14 days, 1.0 (0.6-1.6) at 15-30 days.
  7. ↑ Hoffman HJ, Hunter JC, Damus K, Pakter J, Peterson DR, van Belle G, Hasselmeyer EG. "Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization and sudden infant death: results of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Cooperative Epidemiological Study of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome risk factors," Pediatrics. 1987;79(4):598-611. PMID 3493477. Population-based case-control study, 757 SIDS cases and 1,514 matched controls; at least one DTP dose in 39.8% of cases vs 55.0% and 53.2% of controls; 1.8% of immunized cases died within 24 hours vs 5.0% and 2.2% of controls immunized within 24 hours of the matched interview.
  8. ↑ Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC, 562 U.S. 223 (2011), US Supreme Court; quoting 42 U.S.C. §300aa–22(b)(1).
  9. ↑ Ray Peat, "Contexts for Vaccinations", Ray Peat Newsletter, January 2020
  10. ↑ Oller JW Jr, Broudy D, Hulscher N. "A Peer-Review of the Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Study Discussed at the Senate Hearing on September 9, 2025," Int J Vaccine Theory Pract Res. 2025;4(1):1609–1646. doi:10.56098/vse7qq65.
  11. ↑ Strebel PM, Ion-Nedelcu N, Baughman AL, Sutter RW, Cochi SL. "Intramuscular injections within 30 days of immunization with oral poliovirus vaccine: a risk factor for vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis." N Engl J Med. 1995;332(8):500–506. doi:10.1056/NEJM199502233320804. PMID Intramuscular injections within 30 days of immunization with oral poliovirus vaccine--a risk factor for vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis. Matched odds ratio 31.2 for any injection; odds ratio 182 for ten or more injections.
  12. ↑ Ray Peat, "Contexts for Vaccinations", Ray Peat Newsletter, January 2020
  13. ↑ Bergfors E, Hermansson G, Nyström Kronander U, Falk L, Valter L, Trollfors B. "How common are long-lasting, intensely itching vaccination granulomas and contact allergy to aluminium induced by currently used pediatric vaccines? A prospective cohort study." Eur J Pediatr. 2014;173(10):1297–1307. doi:10.1007/s00431-014-2318-2. PMID How common are long-lasting, intensely itching vaccination granulomas and contact allergy to aluminium induced by currently used pediatric vaccines? A prospective cohort study.
  14. ↑ Ray Peat, "Contexts for Vaccinations", Ray Peat Newsletter, January 2020
  15. ↑ Cowling BJ, Fang VJ, Nishiura H, et al. "Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine." Clin Infect Dis. 2012;54(12):1778–1783. doi:10.1093/cid/cis307. PMID Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine. Non-influenza respiratory virus infection relative risk 4.4 (95% CI 1.31–14.8); influenza relative risk 0.66, not significant.
  16. ↑ Wolff GG. "Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017–2018 influenza season." Vaccine. 2020;38(2):350–354. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.10.005. PMID Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017-2018 influenza season. Overall adjusted OR 0.97; seasonal coronavirus OR 1.36; HMPV OR 1.51.
  17. ↑ Doshi P. "Are US flu death figures more PR than science?" BMJ. 2005;331(7529):1412. doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7529.1412. PMCID PMC1309667.
  18. ↑ Nohynek H, Jokinen J, Partinen M, et al. "AS03 adjuvanted AH1N1 vaccine associated with an abrupt increase in the incidence of childhood narcolepsy in Finland." PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e33536. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033536. PMID AS03 adjuvanted AH1N1 vaccine associated with an abrupt increase in the incidence of childhood narcolepsy in Finland. Rate ratio 12.7.
  19. ↑ Smith SE, Li J, Garbett K, Mirnics K, Patterson PH. "Maternal immune activation alters fetal brain development through interleukin-6." J Neurosci. 2007;27(40):10695–10702. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2178-07.2007. PMID Maternal immune activation alters fetal brain development through interleukin-6.
  20. ↑ Ray Peat, "Butter Living: Biology, Health, and Humanness", Butter Living Podcast, 2021-05-21, 37:28
  21. ↑ Alameh MG, Tombácz I, Bettini E, et al. "Lipid nanoparticles enhance the efficacy of mRNA and protein subunit vaccines by inducing robust T follicular helper cell and humoral responses." Immunity. 2021;54(12):2877–2892. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2021.11.001. PMID Lipid nanoparticles enhance the efficacy of mRNA and protein subunit vaccines by inducing robust T follicular helper cell and humoral responses.
  22. ↑ Ndeupen S, Qin Z, Jacobsen S, Bouteau A, Estanbouli H, Igyártó BZ. "The mRNA-LNP platform's lipid nanoparticle component used in preclinical vaccine studies is highly inflammatory." iScience. 2021;24(12):103479. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103479. PMID The mRNA-LNP platform's lipid nanoparticle component used in preclinical vaccine studies is highly inflammatory.
  23. ↑ Ray Peat, "Butter Living: Biology, Health, and Humanness", Butter Living Podcast, 2021-05-21, 39:34
  24. ↑ Aldén M, Olofsson Falla F, Yang D, et al. "Intracellular reverse transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in vitro in human liver cell line." Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2022;44(3):1115–1126. doi:10.3390/cimb44030073. PMID Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line.
  25. ↑ Zhang L, Bisht P, Flamier A, et al. "LINE1-mediated reverse transcription and genomic integration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA detected in virus-infected but not in viral mRNA-transfected cells." Viruses. 2023;15(3):629. doi:10.3390/v15030629. PMID LINE1-Mediated Reverse Transcription and Genomic Integration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Detected in Virus-Infected but Not in Viral mRNA-Transfected Cells.
  26. ↑ Ray Peat, "Hormonal Imprinting, Fake History, Aristotelian Philosophy, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Lysenko", Generative Energy, 2020-07-25, 21:49