Vaccine Associated Kawasaki’s Disease in Children (KD-V)

Introduction: Kawasaki’s Disease (KD) is a leading cause of heart disease in children. The etiology of KD is currently unknown. KD onset occurs with delays following pathogen outbreaks and also post immunization. A recent etiology model of KD proposed that KD is caused by activation of mast cells and likely platelets. Recently, epilepsy safety signals were associated with specific vaccines for infants aged 0 and 1. Do these safety signals also appear in children post immunization? Method: Herein, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is retrospectively examined for KD adverse events (AEs) for children. Results: The same pattern of safety signals was observed with KD AEs as epilepsy AEs post immunization. KD associated with vaccination (KD-V) is associated with either a pattern consistent with direct innate immune activation or by immune complex activation of mast cells and likely platelets. Candidate causative factors identified include live virus vaccines and too high dosage levels for specific infant vaccines and specific concomitant combinations. Discussion: Adjusting vaccine dosage based on infant body size for several vaccines is strongly recommended, including adjusting the infectious units in attenuated live viral vaccines. Concomitant administration of specific vaccines results in either additive or synergy risk levels for KD. Concomitant administration of specific vaccines including attenuated live viruses with synergy KD risk levels is strongly recommended against (counter indicated).