Anti-Vaccine Influencers Are Talking About SIDS Again
As if it wasn’t enough that anti-vaccine influencers had brought back the idea that vaccines are associated with autism, they are also, not surprisingly, talking about vaccines and SIDS.
Anti-Vaccine Influencers Are Talking About SIDS Again
So here we are working to reassure folks that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary and are neither associated with SIDS nor autism.
Consider Pierre Kory’s musings on so-called “vaccine-induced SIDS…”
In addition to pushing a dumpster diving in VAERS study by Neil Z Miller, Kory pushes the idea that the back to sleep campaign was a cover-up for DPT deaths.
Of course, this is ridiculous.
And we have addressed it before.
Pierre Kory totally mischaracterizes the history of recommendations for infant sleep positions.
He leaves out that there was a switch to stomach sleeping in the 1940s, and that led to a rise in SIDS cases, a search for why, and ultimately, research that discovered the solution.
“Peter Fleming’s research into sudden infant death has saved thousands of lives by simply putting babies to sleep on their backs. Now professor of infant health and developmental physiology at Bristol University, in the late 1980s he led a pioneering study that sharply reduced these deaths by altering the sleeping position.”
Peter Fleming: Instigator of “Back to Sleep”
The back to sleep campaign!
Not the DPT vaccine, as Pierre Kory suggests.
“The above concerns spreading amongst the general public were compounded by media coverage, such as the 1982 documentary "DPT: Vaccine Roulette." Some argue this was the last major media exposé of the harms of vaccines, although that would overlook the three talk shows that Phil Donahue did in 1983, 1986, and 1990.”
The Suppression Of Vaccine-Induced Infant Deaths (SIDS) By Public Health Agencies Across The World
And both DPT: Vaccine Roulette and DPT, A Shot in the Dark, which scared people in the 1980s, while lauded by Kory, have been thoroughly debunked and typically dismissed as anti-vaccine propaganda!
It should also be clear that SIDS is not associated with the DPT vaccine when you consider that rates of SIDS continued to increase in countries that weren’t using the DPT vaccine!
And the back to sleep campaign was not a cover-up for DPT deaths, as is clear when you consider that SIDS deaths decreased in countries that weren’t using the DPT vaccine.
What else does Pierre Kory talk about?
He brings up Japan and the idea that both the incidence of SIDS and infant mortality rates decreased in Japan when they temporarily stopped using the DPT vaccine in the mid-1970s.
What really happened?
Epidemic cases of whooping cough in the country, with at least 41 deaths in children before the vaccine was restarted.
“This study showed that higher SIDS rates were associated with higher infant pertussis hospitalization rates between 1994 and 2019, particularly in West Germany."
The association of public health interventions regarding both infant sleep position and pertussis immunization with sudden infant death syndrome rates: an ecological study
Which tragically can increase your baby’s risk of SIDS!
Pierre Kory also brings up the idea of hot lots, a drop in SIDS during COVID, and other dubious studies. The only thing he doesn’t bring up, surprisingly, is package inserts!
Like A Midwestern Doctor, his articles try to overwhelm you with statistics, studies, and references, all of which are very misleading - basically propaganda.
That it all falls apart with his initial idea that the back to sleep campaign has been a cover-up for DPT deaths hopefully helps you see that.
Or that he sees some conspiracy for the increase in SIDS rates in the 20th century, when it was simply due to a switch in how babies were put to sleep at the time - on their stomachs.
They aren’t even new arguments!
They have simply been rediscovered by a new crop of anti-vaccine influencers.
A new crop of anti-vaccine influencers who are perhaps worse than those in the past because they actually think they know everything…
“However, I need to point out the fact that most infants can sleep however the $%&! they want. From developmental guidelines: “Infants start rolling from their stomach to their back around 4-5 months and from their back to their stomach around 5-7 months.” Yeah, “Back to Sleep,” that’ll work.”
The Suppression Of Vaccine-Induced Infant Deaths (SIDS) By Public Health Agencies Across The World
Pierre Kory, for example, is writing about vaccines and SIDS, and doesn’t even seem to understand that the Back to Sleep campaign (a program cut by the Trump administration!) worked because infants are at highest risk for SIDS before they begin to roll-over!
Is it any surprise that he has lost his board certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine?
References
The Suppression Of Vaccine-Induced Infant Deaths (SIDS) By Public Health Agencies Across The World https://pierrekorymedicalmusings.com/p/the-suppression-of-vaccine-induced
Back to sleep: the doctor who helped stem a cot death epidemic https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/back-to-sleep-sudden-infant-death-syndrome-cot-death-peter-fleming
Peter Fleming: Instigator of “Back to Sleep” https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5724
Fujita T. Sudden infant death syndrome in Japan 1995-1998. Forensic Sci Int. 2002 Sep 14;130 Suppl:S71-7. doi: 10.1016/s0379-0738(02)00143-3. PMID: 12350305.
Müller-Nordhorn J, Hakimhashemi A, Willich SN, Binting S, Keil T. The association of public health interventions regarding both infant sleep position and pertussis immunization with sudden infant death syndrome rates: an ecological study. BMC Pediatr. 2025 Jan 30;25(1):79. doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-05429-7. PMID: 39885457; PMCID: PMC11783958.
No evidence linking vaccines to sudden infant deaths: doctors https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.44LK89D
Trump cuts baby 'Safe to Sleep' team. Here's what parents should know https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5383871/trump-cuts-safe-sleep-sids-baby