Many have recently questioned the existence of the so-called “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS), which attributes certain infant deaths to trauma resulting from child abuse. Recent pediatric vaccinations have been suspected as a possible precipitating factor in some of these infant deaths.

A review of pediatric records intended to determine whether infants diagnosed with SBS had underlying medical conditions found that some infants had received the same combination of vaccines not long prior to the event which resulted in an SBS diagnosis. Further research determined that the vaccinations had also been given to a number of infants whose deaths were diagnosed as resulting from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The three vaccines in question were a 5 in 1 vaccine combination, a HIB conjugate vaccine, and a 7-valent pediatric pneumococcal vaccine.