Can vaccines cause chronic diseases?

Abstract

Adverse events after vaccination causing chronic diseases are a rare occurrence although there are some clear associations between vaccines and illness, such as oral polio vaccine and vaccine-associated paralytic polio and MMR vaccine and thrombocytopenia. When chronic illnesses have unclear etiologies or are caused by many factors, vaccines that are commonly given are often the scapegoat for the illness. This chapter addresses and refutes the association between various vaccines and neurologic conditions such as encephalitis and encephalopathy, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, and multiple sclerosis.