Can vaccine shedding causes death?

A new video claims that live vaccines, like mpox vaccines, can cause serious harm through shedding, including death, and that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines also cause shedding, warning parents to be cautious about vaccines approved for kids.

These claims rely on package insert data rather than the many tests showing the vaccines are beneficial. Vaccine inserts are legal documents, not medical or research documents.

Some specific vaccines, such as the mpox vaccine, use live but weakened viruses that usually do not cause illness. These can also shed in very specific ways and usually don’t cause illness in people with functioning immune systems. COVID vaccines, however, aren’t live vaccines and do not shed, as there is no virus to shed.

The mpox vaccine is necessary in places where we see outbreaks. Since 2022, mpox outbreaks have caused over 40,000 cases and 1,500 deaths across 15 countries in Africa. In 2024 alone, there have been over 17,000 cases and 500 deaths, which is a big increase compared to last year. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the most cases and deaths, with 96% of all the cases happening there.

Live vaccines used in the U.S. are also necessary. Eliminating chickenpox and measles vaccinations in the U.S. would have serious public health consequences.

Before the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine in 1995, the U.S. saw more than 4 million cases of chickenpox annually, leading to approximately 10,500 to 13,500 hospitalizations and 100 to 150 deaths, half of them in children. If vaccination were stopped, these numbers could return, resulting in a resurgence of severe illness and deaths. The vaccine program has reduced cases by 97% and prevented about 100 deaths yearly. In addition, it has saved the U.S. $23 billion in healthcare costs by reducing hospitalizations and lost workdays for caregivers.

Measles is one of the most contagious viruses, with each infected person able to spread it to up to 18 others in an unvaccinated population. Before the vaccine became widely available in 1963, around 3 to 4 million people in the U.S. contracted measles annually, leading to 500 deaths, thousands of cases of encephalitis (brain swelling), and serious complications like pneumonia. Today, measles outbreaks occur primarily among unvaccinated people, and eliminating the vaccine would likely result in large outbreaks, particularly among children. Even with modern healthcare, the CDC estimates that 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who contract measles will die from complications.