Lack of Association of Guillain-Barré Syndrome With Vaccinations

[Laidback Al]

from: Clinical Infectious Disease, vol 57, issue 2, pp. 197-204.

Lack of Association of Guillain-Barré Syndrome With Vaccinations

Roger Baxter, Nandini Bakshi, Bruce Fireman, Edwin Lewis, Paula Ray, Claudia Vellozzi, and Nicola P. Klein

Background.  Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute polyradiculoneuropathy, thought to be an autoimmune process. Although cases of GBS have been reported following a wide range of vaccines, a clear association has only been established with the 1976 H1N1 inactivated influenza vaccine.

Methods. We identified hospitalized GBS cases from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) from 1995 through 2006. The medical record of each suspected case was neurologist-reviewed according to the Brighton Collaboration GBS case definition; only confirmed cases were included in the analyses, and cases of Miller Fisher syndrome were excluded. Using a case-centered design, we compared the odds of vaccination in the 6 and 10 weeks prior to onset of GBS to the odds of vaccination during the same time intervals in all vaccinated individuals in the entire KPNC population.

Results. We confirmed 415 incident cases of GBS (including Brighton levels 1, 2, and 3) during the study period (>30 million person-years). Incidence peaked during the winter months. The odds ratio of influenza vaccination within a 6-week interval prior to GBS, compared with the prior 9 months, was 1.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], .4-3.1). The risk in the 6-week interval compared to the prior 12 months for tetorifice diphtheria combination, 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide, and for all vaccines combined was 1.4 (95% CI, .3-4.5), 0.7 (95% CI, .1-2.9), and 1.3 (95% CI, .8-2.3), respectively.

Conclusions. In this large retrospective study, we did not find evidence of an increased risk of GBS following vaccinations of any kind, including influenza vaccination.

[glasgow3]

Great news there!!!

So I imagine all of the government organizations, quality organizations, healthcare employers, vaccine manufacturers and all others who are advocating mandatory vaccinations will be perfectly agreeable to dispense with all of the special barriers to lawsuits for those seeking damages for flu vaccine complications.

Right?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Those that remember the Gillian Barre cases have a long memory. That 1976 H1N1 inactivated influenza vaccine was sworn to be safe as well.