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Vaccination and the risk of allergies

Medical expert of the article

Pediatric immunologist
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 08.07.2025

Past attempts to link the rise in allergies in developed countries to vaccine "allergization" have been convincingly refuted by studies showing no effect of vaccines on IgE and IgE antibody levels. They have been replaced by claims that the cause of increasing allergization is a decrease in acute morbidity and, thus, a decrease in the stimulation of innate immune cells by bacterial products, which secrete fewer Th-1-polarizing cytokines.

Recently, it has been suggested that the prevalence of the Th-2 immune response is associated with reduced stimulation of regulatory T cells. These suggestions are consistent with the so-called "hygiene hypothesis" of the increase in allergic diseases, but this hypothesis is based on data on the effect of reducing mainly acute respiratory morbidity in the first 6 months of a child's life, while immunoprophylaxis prevents the bulk of diseases at an older age. Moreover, studies of the possible protective role of vaccine-preventable infections in relation to allergies yield contradictory results.

However, many population studies have been conducted on this issue for each vaccine and for all vaccines together. They have given conflicting results, largely reflecting the demographic and social characteristics of the populations studied. Thus, a study of the effect of BCG on allergic morbidity showed no significant effect in the Scandinavian countries, Estonia and Germany, while a weak protective effect was observed in Spain and Senegal.

Of the 10 reliable studies on the effect of the pertussis vaccine collected by these authors, 2 found a weak positive association between allergy and DPT vaccination, 2 found a negative association, while 6 found no such association. Of the 7 studies on the effect of measles (or MMR) vaccination, 5 found no association with the incidence of atopy, asthma, or hay fever, while 2 studies showed a weak protective role of vaccination. Similar data were obtained for OPV. Based on the material of 2,500 children in the Netherlands, it was shown that vaccination with DPT + IPV + Hib vaccine did not increase the incidence of atopic eczema and recurrent obstructive bronchitis compared with incompletely vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

The increase in the incidence of "reactive bronchial disease" described by some authors after the use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was considered unconvincing by the WHO.

Comparison of asthma incidence curves in children aged 5-14 and vaccination load in the USA also does not confirm the existence of a connection between them: the increase in asthma incidence from 6 to 10% occurred in 1980-1995, when the number of vaccinations in the calendar remained stable. The same conclusion was reached by observations of more than 1000 children over 14 years.

Of interest are observations in groups of children whose families follow anthroposophic rules of life (natural nutrition, limitation of antibiotics, antipyretics and vaccines), since this excludes the influence of a number of other possible influences. It has been shown that the use of antibiotics and antipyretics at an early age does increase the incidence of asthma and other allergic diseases, but vaccination does not affect the incidence of allergic diseases.

Interpreting these data, we can conclude that the reduction in the incidence of controlled infections due to vaccination is not accompanied by an increase in the frequency of allergic diseases. The positive effect of vaccination on the frequency of allergies, noted by most authors, is possible and does occur, although its strength of impact is insignificant in comparison with a complex of other factors.


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