Do Vaccines Cause Food Allergies?

Why do some folks think that vaccines can cause food allergies?

It’s likely for the same reason that they think that vaccines can cause eczema and reflux.

Many infants develop the first signs of food allergies around the same time that they are getting their first vaccines…

Do Vaccines Cause Food Allergies?

To be clear, vaccines can be associated with food allergies, including:

• eggs – most children with an egg allergy can get the flu shot, although the yellow fever vaccine could still be an issue
• gelatin – some vaccines use gelatin, like in Jell-O, as a stabilizer
• yeast – although they aren’t thought to be an issue for kids with yeast allergies, a few vaccines can have residual amounts of yeast in them
• milk – very rarely and mainly based on scattered case reports, it is thought that residual casein proteins in DTaP/Tdap vaccines could trigger allergic reactions in some kids with severe milk allergies

But vaccines don’t cause these food allergies.

What about peanut allergies? Peanut oil is not actually a component of vaccines and vaccines have not caused a peanut allergy epidemic.

And FPIES?

“Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) is a type of non-IgE mediated food allergy that can present with severe vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration.”

Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES)

It is important to note that having FPIES is not a contraindication to getting vaccinated.

And that’s not surprising, as there is no biologically plausible mechanism for any association between FPIES and vaccines!

What about the rotavirus vaccines? Could they be causing FPIES?

FPIES was recognized in the mid-1970s. We didn’t have a rotavirus vaccine back then.

Could it have been the oral polio virus, which we were using in the 1970s?

“Some researchers have speculated that T cells play a central role in the development of the localized inflammation in the intestinal tract that characterizes FPIES, but this theory has not been confirmed.”

Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome

If it was, then why didn’t FPIES go away when we stopped using the oral polio vaccine in 2000. Or when we used neither OPV nor a rotavirus vaccine, from 2000 to 2007?

“The reviewed epidemiological evidence indicates that, although possibly not contributing to optimal stimulation of the immune system in infancy, current infant vaccines do not cause allergic diseases.”

Koppen et al on No epidemiological evidence for infant vaccinations to cause allergic disease.

There is also no evidence that vaccines are causing other types of food allergies.

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and are obviously necessary.

As you wait for your child to hopefully outgrow their food allergy, don’t unnecessarily skip or delay their vaccines and leave them at risk to get a vaccine preventable disease.

Vaccines and Food Allergies

• Which Vaccines Are Gluten Free?
• Latex Allergies and Vaccines
• Peanut Butter or the Plague?
• Anaphylaxis After Vaccines
• Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
• Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES)
• Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES)
• Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome
• International consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and management of food protein–induced enterocolitis syndrome: Executive summary — Workgroup Report of the Adverse Reactions to Foods Committee, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
• Study – No epidemiological evidence for infant vaccinations to cause allergic disease.
• Administration of influenza vaccines to egg allergic recipients: A practice parameter update 2017
• Adverse reactions to vaccines practice parameter 2012 update
• Allergens in Vaccines
• Antivaccine lies–peanut oil and vaccines
• Do vaccines cause asthma or allergies?
• Are There Vaccines That Children With Allergies Need to Avoid?
• Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Vaccines Cause Allergic or Autoimmune Diseases?
• Food Allergies Are Rarely a Concern When Considering Vaccines for Adolescents
• Vaccine allergies
• Food Allergies: Facts, Myths, and Pseudoscience
• The FPIES Foundation

Last Updated on April 6, 2024