ArticleVaccine2020
The reporting sensitivity of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for anaphylaxis and for Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Article in Vaccine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incidence of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Following COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Population-Based Cohort Study Using the Valencia Health System Integrated Database (Spain).Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Review
- Cardiac arrhythmias following COVID-19 vaccination: insights from the U.S. vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS), December 2020-January 2025, United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Temporal and disproportionality analysis of vaccine-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome: a 21-year VAERS study.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Development and application of the vaccine reporting quality score to evaluate the vaccine adverse event reporting system.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Vaccine hesitancy among U.S. parents: a mini review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Underreporting of Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Vaccination Among Healthcare Professionals in Poland: Potential Implications for Vaccine Hesitancy.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Article
- Complex chronic adverse events following immunization: a systemic critique and reform proposal for vaccine pharmacovigilance.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2025Article
- Global burden of vaccine-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome over 170 countries from 1967 to 2023.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Response to: Van Wyk et al. letter to the editor regarding 'Autopsy findings in cases of fatal COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis'.ESC heart failure · 2024Article
- Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2024Article
- [Experiences and Challenges of the Ecuadorean National Advisory Commission on Serious Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization, 2020-2023Experiências e desafios da Comissão Consultiva Nacional sobre Eventos Supostamente Atribuíveis à Vacinação ou Imunização graves do Equador, 2020-2023].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2024Article
- Review
- Anaphylactic Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines: An Updated Assessment Based on Pharmacovigilance Data.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Vaccine-Associated Uveitis after COVID-19 Vaccination: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System Database Analysis.Ophthalmology · 2023Article
- Article
- COVID-19 Vaccines and Myopericarditis: A Nuanced Story.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Usefulness of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for Machine-Learning Based Vaccine Research: A Case Study for COVID-19 Vaccines.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Comparability of clinical trials and spontaneous reporting data regarding COVID-19 vaccine safety.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderreporting is a limitation common to passive surveillance systems, including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that monitors the safety of U.S.-licensed vaccines. Nonetheless, previous reports demonstrate substantial case capture for clinically severe adverse events (AEs), including 47% of intussusception cases after rotavirus vaccine, and 68% of vaccine associated paralytic polio after oral polio vaccine.
objectivesTo determine the sensitivity of VAERS in capturing AE reports of anaphylaxis and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following vaccination and whether this is consistent with previous estimates for other severe AEs.
methodsWe estimated VAERS reporting rates following vaccination for anaphylaxis and GBS. We used data from VAERS safety reviews as the numerator, and estimated incidence rates of anaphylaxis and GBS following vaccination from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) studies as the denominator. We defined reporting sensitivity as the VAERS reporting rate divided by the VSD incidence rate. Sensitivity was reported as either a single value, or a range if data were available from >1 study.
resultsVAERS sensitivity for capturing anaphylaxis after seven different vaccines ranged from 13 to 76%; sensitivity for capturing GBS after three different vaccines ranged from 12 to 64%. For anaphylaxis, VAERS captured 13-27% of cases after the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, 13% of cases after influenza vaccine, 21% of cases after varicella vaccine, 24% of cases after both the live attenuated zoster and quadrivalent human papillomavirus (4vHPV) vaccines, 25% of cases after the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and 76% of cases after the 2009 H1N1 inactivated pandemic influenza vaccine. For GBS, VAERS captured 12% of cases after the 2012-13 inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine, 15-55% of cases after the 2009 H1N1 inactivated pandemic influenza vaccine, and 64% of cases after 4vHPV vaccine.
conclusionsFor anaphylaxis and GBS, VAERS sensitivity is comparable to previous estimates for detecting important AEs following vaccination.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.