Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future. Vaccines can be prophylactic (example: to prevent or ameliorate the effects of a future infection by a natural or "wild" pathogen), or therapeutic (e.g., vaccines against cancer are being investigated).

Risk in developing ME/CFS
According to the 2018 version of The Clinician’s Vaccine Safety Resource Guide Vaccines: "Vaccines currently routinely recommended to the general population in the U.S. have not been shown to cause fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)."

Some have reported developing ME/CFS after receiving vaccinations for foreign travel. Whether causal or individuals already having a tendency to develop ME/CFS is more sensitive to vaccines than the general population is unknown. A studied concluded there is no evidence that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine will lead to developing chronic fatigue syndrome.

In one case of a 43-year-old man who developed CFS after having five vaccinations, with no previous ill health, it was "proposed that the cause of the CFS in this individual was a heightened immune response, initially to the aluminium in each of the adjuvants and thereafter spreading to other significant body stores of aluminium."

Risk in developing Gulf War Illness
Vaccinations have been proposed as an etiological factor in Gulf War Illness, especially the mass vaccinations given prior to military deployment.

Vaccination in the presence of elevated cortisol levels can drive cytokine expression toward TH2 dominance.

Publications

 * 2018, Do Vaccines Cause Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)? in The Clinician’s Vaccine Safety Resource Guide

Learn more

 * 5 Vaccine Delivery Methods of the Future
 * Vaccine Delivery
 * Vaccine Storage and Handling
 * Vaccines Video short
 * Wikipedia