SIDS and Vaccines – A Review of Anti-Vaccine Theories

Not surprisingly, the idea that vaccines could be associated with SIDS is one of the earliest theories put out by anti-vaccine influencers.

“Often the fatality described to me has befallen the infant of a poor mother, who… tried to shield her offspring from the vaccinator’s lancet… only surrendered… when overtaken… all of whom died of the operation.”

A Personal Statement of the Results of Vaccination.

Of course, he didn’t call it SIDS, but William Tebb blamed the smallpox vaccine for causing infant deaths in 1891.

SIDS and Vaccines – A Review of Anti-Vaccine Theories

And that started a long pattern of anti-vaccine influencers associating vaccines with infant deaths.

It continued with disproved claims that:

• the DPT vaccine is associated with SIDS
• the hepatitis B vaccine is associated with SIDS
• the Hib vaccine is associated with SIDS
• the polio vaccines are associated with SIDS
• combination vaccines are associated with SIDS

Claims that have come from anti-vaccine influencers like Robert Mendelsohn, Viera Scheibner, Harris Coulter, Barbara Loe Fisher, Archie Kalokerinos, Neil Z. Miller, Sherri Tenpenny, Suzanne Humphries, Paul Thomas, and Larry Palevsky, etc.

Claims that have been disproved a thousand times already, but keep getting recycled, especially when we get new vaccines…

Don’t believe them!

• What Is the Chance of SIDS Occurring on the Same Day as Vaccinations?
• Is There Any Historical Evidence Connecting Vaccination to SIDS?
• Anti-Vaccine Influencers Are Talking About SIDS Again
• Propaganda about Vaccines and SIDS from Paul Thomas
• Why You Shouldn’t Listen to A Midwestern Doctor Talk About Vaccines and SIDS
• Did a Leading Pediatrician Drop a Bombshell About Vaccines and SIDS?
• Pierre Kory On Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Among Twins
• Anti-Vaccine Propaganda about Hot Lots
• SIDS Never Disappeared in Japan
• SIDS in Unvaccinated Children
• Are Package Inserts Evidence That Vaccines Cause SIDS and Autism?
• Did 79.4% of the Reported Child Deaths to VAERS Get a Vaccine on the Day They Died?

In addition to scaring parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids, know that anti-vaccine influencers undermine safe sleep messaging that can reduce the risk of SIDS.

So basically, anti-vaccine influencers will increase your baby’s risk of dying!

Stop listening to them.

After all, if they were right, and vaccines were associated with SIDS, then:

• why did SIDS rates increase in Sweden when they STOPPED using the DPT vaccine, decrease when they started their safe to sleep campaign, and kept dropping when they started using a DTaP vaccine??? That would be statistically impossible if vaccines were associated with SIDS, right?

  

• why didn’t SIDS disappear in Japan when they raised their vaccination age to 2 years?

  

• why does Spain have such a low rate of SIDS when their immunization schedule is very similar to that used in the United States? Infants in Spain actually get more vaccines than infants in the United States, during a time when they are most at risk for SIDS, and they have very low rates of SIDS.

Lastly, if there is so much evidence that vaccines are associated with SIDS, then why do anti-vaccine influencers have to resort to cherry-picking and misrepresenting studies to mislead people?

Obviously, it is because vaccines are not associated with SIDS.

Billions of doses of vaccines have been safely given to hundreds of millions of infants over the years, just in the United States!

What else?

There is no proven biological mechanism for how any vaccine might cause SIDS.

Lastly, know that you can reduce your baby’s risk of SIDS by following safe sleep practices getting them vaccinated and protected.

More on SIDS

• Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
• How to Become a Real Vaccine Skeptic
• Let’s Look at the Evidence That Vaccines Are Associated With SIDS
• Do Vaccines Cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)?
• A Personal Statement of the Results of Vaccination.
• No evidence linking vaccines to sudden infant deaths
• There is no link between vaccines and cot death
• Surviving the Sudden Death of a Baby
• SIDS: A Parent’s Worst Fear Has Nothing to Do With Vaccines
• Trump cuts baby ‘Safe to Sleep’ team. Here’s what parents should know
• How can I reduce the risk of SIDS?
• AAP’s Infant Safe Sleep Recommendations

Last Updated on July 13, 2026