What are the risks from
inactivated influenza vaccine?
A vaccine, like any medicine, is capable of causing serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. The risk of a vaccine causing serious harm, or death, is extremely small. Serious problems from flu vaccine are very rare. The viruses in inactivated influenza vaccine have been killed, so you cannot get influenza from the vaccine.
Mild problems:
?soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given
?fever
?aches
If these problems occur, they usually begin soon after the shot and last 1-2 days.
Severe problems:
? Life-threatening allergic reactions are very rare. If they do occur, it is within a few minutes to a few
hours after the shot.
? In 1976, swine flu vaccine was associated with a severe paralytic illness called Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Influenza vaccines since then have not been clearly linked to GBS. However, if there is a risk of GBS from current influenza vaccines, it is estimated at 1 or 2 cases per million persons vaccinated . . . much less than the risk of severe influenza, which can be prevented by vaccination.
? Call your local or state health department.
? Contact the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC):
- Call 1-800-232-2522 (English)
