FACT BRIEF

Are vaccines against one disease shown to make you more susceptible to other diseases?

Sunday, December 6, 2020

By Caroline Taber

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A vaccine for one disease does not make you more susceptible to other diseases.

One common misconception about vaccines is that they weaken a person's natural immunity. A 2018 study found that there was no statistically significant difference in the level of immunity against non–vaccine-targeted infections in vaccinated children compared to non-vaccinated children. This information follows an older study, which evaluated Danish children born from 1990-2001, and found that receiving vaccines did not increase the risk of hospitalization for non-targeted diseases.

Furthermore, a study in Germany of 496 vaccinated and unvaccinated children found that children who received immunizations against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio within the first three months of life had fewer infections with vaccine-related and -unrelated pathogens than the non-vaccinated group.

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Sources

JAMA: Association between estimated cumulative vaccine antigen exposure through the first 23 months of life and non–vaccine-targeted infections from 24 through 47 months of age

JAMA: Childhood vaccination and nontargeted infectious disease hospitalization.

National Library of Medicine: General non-specific morbidity is reduced after vaccination within the third month of life—the Greifswald study

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