
No evidence linking vaccines to sudden infant deaths: doctors
The claim linking SIDS -- the sudden death of a seemingly healthy infant, generally during sleep -- to vaccines was shared in a lengthy Malay-language Facebook post from April 25, 2025.
It begins by quoting a Dr Paul Thomas as saying: "97 percent of children die from SIDS 10 days after vaccination." It goes on to say that taking the full vaccination schedule puts children at risk of death, something that has been "known for decades" and that "deaths from vaccination are higher than deaths from disease".
The quotes are taken from an interview of Thomas, clips of which are included in the posts.
He is shown saying: "It's real clear, you get a vaccine, your infant dies."
Image
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on May 19, 2025
Similar posts sharing the video also surfaced elsewhere on Facebook.
But the posts feature a doctor who had his licence suspended in 2020 on an emergency basis after Oregon state's medical board found evidence he had "violated standard medical practices related to vaccines", according to a report in local media (archived link).
"The Oregon Medical Board took the unusual step after reviewing evidence that alleged Thomas guided his patients away from getting the standard course of childhood vaccinations -- and that patients suffered vaccine-preventable diseases possibly as a result," read the report.
Thomas voluntarily surrendered his medical licence in 2022 (archived link).
The interview was also broadcast by Children's Health Defense -- a group that has previously spread vaccine falsehoods (archived link).
AFP has also repeatedly debunked similar claims linking vaccination to SIDS.
Protective effect
According to the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada, the exact causes of SIDS are unknown but vaccines are neither a cause nor are they linked to SIDS (archived here and here).
The American Academy of Pediatrics also says there is no evidence of a causal relationship between immunisations and SIDS, adding that "vaccination may have a protective effect against SIDS" (archived link).
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia paediatrician Dr Norazlin Kamal Nor told AFP that given SIDS peaks at around two to four months -- when childhood vaccines are administered -- this could be used to mislead the public about a link (archived here and here).
Norazlin said multiple studies have shown there is no conclusive link between vaccines and SIDS, which she said can be reduced by avoiding "unsafe sleep environments" such as sleeping on the stomach and using soft bedding.
She called on parents to not be misled and vaccinate their children according to schedule to prevent potentially serious, infective illnesses.
"A reduction in vaccination rate can also lead to loss of herd immunity in the community and increase the risk of infections like measles," she added.
International bodies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and health agencies like the CDC recommend infants and children be vaccinated before they come into contact with life-threatening diseases (archived here and here).
They also point out that vaccines go through rigorous safety tests, including clinical trials, before they are approved for the public (archived link).

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AFP
8 hours ago
- AFP
Video misleads about safety of 6-in-1 vaccine Vaxelis
"A new vaccine is on the market for your 6 week old baby! It's never been tested against a placebo or for carcinogenic effects," claims a May 19, 2025 Instagram post from a Canadian content creator who regularly posts against vaccination. She is one of several creators who stitched their reactions next to a video with thousands of interactions from Jeffrey Barke, a founding member of America's Frontline Doctors -- a group AFP has repeatedly fact-checked. In the video, Barke reads from the package insert for Vaxelis, a shot given to simultaneously prevent infections caused by pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and hepatitis B (archived here). "Studies that brought this product to market -- there is not a single randomized controlled study with an inert placebo. It's only tested against other vaccinations," he says, implying this is cause for concern. Image Screenshot of Instagram reels taken on June 3, 2025 Similar claims also appeared on X in French, German, Spanish and Croatian, spreading as officials with the US Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. aim to shift the way vaccines are tested and approved. The posts also come as experts say vaccine misinformation is rampant online and may be contributing to falling vaccination rates across the United States and Canada (archived here and here). Vaxelis is not new, however. The US Food and Drug Administration first approved the joint venture of pharmaceutical companies Sanofi Pasteur and Merck for children six weeks through four years of age in December 2018 (archived here and here). It is also administered in Europe (archived here). Kelly Moore, president and CEO of the nonprofit co-authored the policy statement for Vaxelis from the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of experts that makes recommendations about the childhood vaccinations schedule (archived here). "It's an excellent vaccine," she told AFP in a June 2 email. In February 2019, the ACIP reported that Vaxelis was subjected to six clinical studies involving more than 5,000 infants six to 12 weeks of age (archived here). It said the studies showed Vaxelis "had an acceptable safety profile that is consistent with its component vaccines." Placebo testing Barke is correct that Vaxelis was not tested against an inert placebo. But experts said there is reason for that: it would have been unethical to do so. Clinical trial participants must be offered the existing standard of care, Moore said. 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Euronews
21 hours ago
- Euronews
US health secretary ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee
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France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Looser gun laws tied to thousands more US child shooting deaths
Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and lead author of the paper in JAMA Pediatrics, told AFP he was drawn to the topic as a father wondering whether today's world is safer for children than when he was growing up. "Mortality from car accidents has fallen dramatically, but at the same time, firearm mortality rose and replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death in children over the age of one," he said -- a trend unique among peer nations. To probe this shift, Faust and his colleagues analyzed state-level data before and after McDonald v Chicago, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that extended the Second Amendment to state and local governments. The ruling sparked a wave of legislation, some tightening gun laws but much of it loosening them. The team grouped states into three categories -- most permissive, permissive, and strict -- and used Centers for Disease Control data on firearm deaths among children aged 0–17. They ran an "excess mortality analysis," comparing actual deaths from 2011 to 2023 against projections based on prior trends from 1999 to 2010 and population growth. The results were stark: more than 7,400 excess pediatric firearm deaths in states that loosened gun laws -- including over 6,000 in the most permissive group of states. By contrast, the eight strictest states overall saw no excess deaths. The model predicted 4,267 fatalities, while 4,212 were recorded -- a near-match that bolstered confidence in the analysis. "The biggest thing people always want to know is, what's the intent behind these?" said Faust. "And I think what surprises most people is that accidents are a very small number of these deaths -- it's mostly homicide and suicide." While the study showed strong associations, it cannot prove causation -- a key limitation. But in a test of whether broader increases in violence might explain the trend, rather than changes to the law, the team analyzed non-firearm homicides and suicides and found no similar rise, a result that makes the findings "pretty compelling," said Faust. Black children saw the steepest increases. While the reasons are unclear, the authors speculated that disparities in safe firearm storage could play a role. There were some exceptions. Deaths rose in Illinois and Connecticut despite tighter laws -- though in the latter case, the spike was entirely attributable to the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting at an elementary school. "Big picture, we have a major problem in this country," said Faust. "But we also have a handful of states that are resisting these increases and, in fact, turning the other direction."