Who is unlikely to report adverse events after vaccinations to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)?

BACKGROUND: Healthcare provider (HCP) reporting to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is important to assuring the safety of U.S. licensed vaccines. HCP awareness of and practices regarding reporting of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) is understudied. METHODS: A large, nationally representative sample of U.S. office-based HCP across three occupational groups (physicians, mid-level providers [physician assistants, advanced practice nurses] and nurses) and three primary care practice areas (pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine) were surveyed utilizing standardized methodology. We assessed HCP familiarity with VAERS, the situations under which they were likely to report an AEFI, and the methods they used and preferred for reporting. We used logistic regression to determine factors associated with HCP not reporting AEFI to VAERS. RESULTS: Our survey response rate was 54.9%. The percentage of HCP aware of VAERS (71%) varied by occupation and primary care practice area. About 37% of HCP had identified at least one AEFI with only 17% of these indicating that they had ever reported to VAERS. More serious events were more likely to be reported. Factors associated with HCP not reporting AEFI included: HCP not familiar versus very familiar with filing a paper VAERS report (OR=12.84; p<0.0001), primary care practice area of internal medicine versus pediatrics (OR=4.22; p=0.0005), and HCP not familiar versus very familiar with when it was required to file a VAERS report (OR=5.52; p=0.0013). CONCLUSIONS: Specific educational interventions targeted to HCP likely to see AEFI but not currently reporting may improve vaccine safety reporting practices.

Vaccination and risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus in active component U.S. Military, 2002-2008.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: To evaluate whether vaccination increases the risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus in active component U.S. military personnel. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among active component U.S. military personnel age 17-35 years. Individuals with first time diagnoses of type 1 diabetes between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2008 were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. We used Poisson regression to estimate risk ratios between individual vaccine exposures and type 1 diabetes. Secondary analyses were performed controlling for receipt of multiple vaccines and available demographic variables. RESULTS: Our study population consisted of 2,385,102 individuals followed for approximately 7,644,098 person-years of service. This included 1074 incident type 1 diabetes cases. We observed no significant increased risk of type 1 diabetes after vaccination with anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA) [RR=1.00; 95% CI (0.85, 1.17)], smallpox vaccine [RR=0.84; 95% (CI 0.70, 1.01)], typhoid vaccine [RR=1.03; 95% CI (0.87, 1.22)], hepatitis B vaccine [RR=0.83; 95% CI (0.72, 0.95)], measles mumps rubella vaccine (MMR) [RR=0.71, 95% CI (0.61, 0.83)], or yellow fever vaccine [RR=0.70; 95% CI (0.59, 0.82)]. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find an increased risk of diagnosed type 1 diabetes and any of the study vaccines. We recommend that follow-up studies using medical record review to confirm case status should be considered to corroborate these findings.