When presented with research that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary, folks who are against vaccines often try and argue that those vaccine studies can’t be trusted because they are funded by Big Pharma.
Although funding bias is a real thing, funding sources and conflicts of interest are ideally disclosed in studies so that their results can be trusted.
But why would you ever allow vaccine manufacturers to fund their own studies if they could possibly cause any kind of bias or lead to financial conflicts of interest?
“Information about trial funding and support is important in helping readers to identify potential conflicts of interest. Authors should identify and describe all sources of monetary or material support for the trial, including salary support for trial investigators and resources provided or donated for any phase of the trial (e.g. space, intervention materials, assessment tools). Authors should report the name of the persons or entities supported, the name of the funder, and the award number. They should also specifically state if these sources had any role in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of the trial, and the nature of any involvement or influence. If funders had no involvement or influence, authors should specifically report this”
Sources of funding and other support, role of funders
In some cases, those studies simply have to be done and someone has to pay for them, so they are done in a way to reduce bias and conflicts of interest as much as possible.
Where Are the Vaccine Studies That Aren’t Funded by Big Pharma?
But aren’t there other people besides the vaccine manufacturers that can pay for these studies?
Sure.
And that’s why we see so many vaccine safety studies sponsored by public health agencies, advocacy groups, and philanthropy associations.

Here are some of those vaccine studies (special thanks to Jesse Noar for starting this list some time ago) that were not funded by Big Pharma…
- Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association – The study was funded by the Medicines Control Agency.
- A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism – Supported by grants from the Danish National Research Foundation; the National Vaccine Program Office and National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the National Alliance for Autism Research.
- Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and bowel problems or developmental regression in children with autism: population study – Funding: London Department of Health.
- Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study – The investigation was funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, under contract 1 AF-45248.
- Recall bias, MMR, and autism – Funded by the Medicines Control Agency and the London Department of Health.
- Autism spectrum disorders in children with active epilepsy and learning disability: comorbidity, pre- and perinatal background, and seizure characteristics – This study was supported by grants from the Petter SilfverskiöldMemorial Foundation and by the Swedish MRC.
- Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: Lack of consistent evidence for an association – Financial support for the compilation of the data used in this investigation and the preparation of this report was provided by the National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Prevalence of autism and parentally reported triggers in a north east London population – This study was funded by a grant from the Department of Health.
- Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence From Danish Population-Based Data – The activities of the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre and the National Centre for Register-Based Research are funded by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. This study was supported by the Stanley Medical Research Institute.
- Unintended events following immunization with MMR: a systematic review – Funding: European Union
- Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism – Funding/Support: This study was supported by grant 11 from the Danish National Research Foundation and grant 22-02-0293 from the Danish Medical Research Council.
- Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism – This study was supported by Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139, Task Order #74 between the National Academy of Sciences and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
- Thimerosal Exposure in Infants and Developmental Disorders: A Retrospective Cohort Study in the United Kingdom Does Not Support a Causal Association – This study was funded by the World Health Organization, grant 18/181/854, and was conducted on behalf of the Global Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee.
- Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A Critical Review of Published Original Data – supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health
- No evidence of an association between MMR vaccine and gait disturbance – Support for the salary of J Stowe was provided by a grant from the Department of Health Research and Development Division (grant number 121/7470). The GPRD study was supported by a grant from the World Health Organisation to investigate the effect of thiomersal exposure on neurodevelopmental outcomes (grant number 18/181/854).
- Absence of detectable measles virus genome sequence in blood of autistic children who have had their MMR vaccination during the routine childhood immunization schedule of UK – This work was undertaken by Dr. M. A. Afzal and colleagues who received funding from Department of Health, UK. Participant recruitment was supported with funding from Autism Research and Development Fund, Friends Endowment Fund, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.
- Continuing increases in autism reported to California’s developmental services system: Mercury in retrograde – This study was supported through the California Department of Public Health.
- No association between early gastrointestinal problems and autistic-like traits in the general population – The authors would like to acknowledge the National Health and Medical Research Council for their long-term contribution to funding the study over the last 20 years. Core management of the Raine study has been funded by the University of Western Australia, the University of Western Australia Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Raine Medical Research Foundation, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, and the Women’s and Infants Research Foundation. The 2- and 10-year follow-up was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Raine Medical Research Foundation.
- Congenital rubella syndrome and autism spectrum disorder prevented by rubella vaccination – United States, 2001-2010 – This study was partially funded through the Emory University Global Health Institute which had no role in the design and conduct of the study;management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation and submission of the final manuscript. No honorarium, grant, or other form of payment was given to anyone to produce this manuscript.
- The combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines and the total number of vaccines are not associated with development of autism spectrum disorder: The first case control study in Asia – A part of this study is the result of research grants from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, and “Integrated research on neuropsychiatric disorders” carried out under the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
- Number of antigens in early childhood vaccines and neuropsychological outcomes at age 7-10 years – This article is a U.S. Government work
- Guillain-Barré Syndrome, Influenza Vaccination, and Antecedent Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Infections: A Case-Centered Analysis in the Vaccine Safety Datalink, 2009–2011 – This work was supported by a subcontract with America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) under contract 200-2002-00732 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Addressing the controversy regarding the association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism – Fuentes de financiamiento: Instituto Nacional de Salud (Peru)
- Increasing Exposure to Antibody-Stimulating Proteins and Polysaccharides in Vaccines Is Not Associated with Risk of Autism – Funded by a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and by subcontracts from AHIP to Abt Associates, Inc.
- Examination of the Safety of Pediatric Vaccine Schedules in a Non-Human Primate Model: Assessments of Neurodevelopment, Learning, and Social Behavior – This work was supported by the Ted Lindsay Foundation, SafeMinds, National Autism Association, the Vernick family, and the Johnson family. This work was also supported by WaNPRC Core Grant RR0166 and Center on Human Development and Disability Core Grant HD02274.
- Autism occurrence by MMR vaccine status among us children with older siblings with and without autism – This project was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, and the US Department of Health and Human Services under contract HHSN-271-2010-00033-C.
- Early exposure to the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines and risk of autism spectrum disorder – This study is the result of research grants from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan (H22-Psychiatry-General-016), and “Integrated research on neuropsychiatric disorders” carried out under the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
- Administration of thimerosal-containing vaccines to infant rhesus macaques does not result in autism-like behavior or neuropathology – We thank the following for their generous financial support: The Ted Lindsay Foundation, SafeMinds, National Autism Association, and the Johnson and Vernick families. This work was also supported by WaNPRC Core Grant RR00166 and CHDD Core Grant HD02274.
- Long-term effectiveness of one and two doses of a killed, bivalent, whole-cell oral cholera vaccine in Haiti: an extended case-control study – Funding: US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Effectiveness of vaccination recommendations versus mandates: Evidence from the hepatitis A vaccine – Funding: This work was supported by the Vanderbilt Kirk Dornbush Research Grant.
- Intussusception risk after rotavirus vaccination in U.S. infants – Supported by funding from the Food and Drug Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, for the Mini-Sentinel and PRISM program.
- Vaccine adverse events in a safety net healthcare system and a managed care organization – The work was funded by contract 200-2012-53582 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Safety Datalink “Increasing the Diversity with Respect to Underserved Populations” task order.
- Safety of 9-valent human papillomavirus vaccine administration among pregnant women: Adverse event reports in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 2014-2017 – The study was implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The only funds used were from CDC budgets. This study had no external sponsors.
- Impact of HPV vaccine hesitancy on cervical cancer in Japan: a modelling study – This study was part-funded via the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control ( C4; 1135172 ) and a grant-in-aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ( 16K15367 ).
- Adverse events following HPV vaccination: 11 years of surveillance in Australia – PhD stipend funding (for AP) was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Royal Australasian College of Physician (RACP). TS is supported by a Career Development Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1111657).
- Estimates of incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in 2018: a worldwide analysis – Belgian Foundation Against Cancer, DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
These studies were funded by wide variety of health organizations and programs and were done all over the world, and basically come to the same conclusions, that vaccines are safe, with few risks.
PRISM, Mini-Sentinel, the Vaccine Safety Datalink.

Were you aware that these programs are in place to fund continued research into vaccine safety after vaccines have been developed and approved?
The Vaccine Studies That Aren’t Funded by Big Pharma
Unfortunately, that some of these studies are funded by the CDC and organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and not vaccine manufacturers might not reassure some folks who argue against vaccines.
But what about the fact that many studies are funded by health organizations in countries all over the world – UK, Peru, Japan, Australia, Sweden, etc.?
And the fact that there are researchers in all of these countries doing these studies!
Are they all in on some global conspiracy about vaccines?
All except the handful that put out poorly done research that is funded by groups who are against vaccines that fills up the binders of folks who are looking for a reason to justify why they aren’t vaccinating and protecting their kids???
More on the Vaccine Safety Studies
- More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
- Where are the Saline Placebos?
- Where are the Double Blind Placebo Controlled Randomized Trials about Vaccines
- Are There Any Long-Term Studies On Vaccine Safety?
- More Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies
- Are Vaccines Evaluated for Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity or Impairment of Fertility?
- Inappropriate Use of Vaccine Studies
- Hierarchy of Evidence and Vaccine Papers
- Using Pubmed to Do Research About Vaccines
- Do Anti-Vaccine Pediatricians Lose Millions Not Vaccinating Kids?
- Money and Motivation of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- FDA – The Sentinel Post-Licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring (PRISM) System
- No, #vaccines studies are not all pharma funded – far from it.
- Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
- Sources of funding and other support, role of funders
- Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest
- White Paper on Publication Ethics
- WHO – Clinical evaluation of vaccines
- Randomized Clinical Trials for Vaccine Safety, Efficacy and Effectiveness
- Big Pharma vaccine profits – let’s take a closer look at this trope
- Conflicts of interest among vaccine advocates: The Law of Contagion
- The “pharma shill” gambit
- 7 easy ways to lose a debate
- The Pharma Shill Gambit and Other Nonsense
- The “Pharma Profit” Gambit
- Pharma Shill Gambit? You Lose.
- Shillin’ Ain’t Easy (or Profitable)
- Conflicts of interest in vaccine safety research
- Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Research