Since a lot of vaccination-related threads often end up referring to VAERS reports, it might be beneficial for all participants of this forum to learn a bit about what this database IS, and what it IS NOT.
From
http://vaers.hhs.gov/vaers.htm:What is VAERS?
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a national vaccine safety surveillance program co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VAERS collects and analyzes information from reports of adverse events following immunization. Since 1990, VAERS has received over 123,000 reports, most of which describe mild side effects such as fever. Very rarely, people experience serious adverse events following immunization. By monitoring such events, VAERS helps to identify any important new safety concerns and thereby assists in ensuring that the benefits of vaccines continue to be far greater than the risks.
So, first point is that the VAERS database consists of *reported* events following immunization. Not verified, not studied, REPORTED. Another FAQ question clarifies:
Are all events reported to VAERS caused by vaccinations?
No. VAERS receives reports of many events that occur after immunization. Some of these events may occur coincidentally following vaccination, while others may truly be caused by vaccination. Studies help determine if there is more than a temporal (time) association between immunization and adverse events. The fact that an adverse event occurred following immunization is not conclusive evidence that the event was caused by a vaccine. Factors such as medical history and other medications given near the time of the vaccination must be examined to determine if they could have caused the adverse event. It is important to remember that many adverse events reported to VAERS may not be caused by vaccines.
The upshot of this is that NO conclusions can be drawn from raw VAERS data. This is where many anti-vaccination activists have gone wrong (see the Geiers in particular). They take that raw data and ASSUME that everything reported A) really happened, and B) is attributable to a vaccine.
I think we can all agree that discussions in this forum will be much better served by EVERYONE understanding this.