• Since late April, Stanford infectious disease physicians have maintained a living, crowd-sourced spreadsheet cataloguing every RCT of licensed vaccines to counter myths that childhood vaccines lack proper testing.

• Rapid Growth:

  • Sparked by debates over COVID-19 vaccine trials, the list began with seven entries and now exceeds 270 RCTs, with expectations to surpass 400–500, covering millions of participants.

• Key Details Tracked:

  • Vaccine name, publication year, study population, sample size, and control type (inert placebo, active comparator, or no intervention).

  • Of 274 reviewed trials, 164 used any placebo arm, and 133 employed truly inert placebos (e.g., saline, alum).

• Historic & Modern Examples:

  • The 1954 Salk polio trial randomized 200,000 children each to a saline placebo and vaccine groups. .

  • Decades of childhood vaccines - MMR, DTP, polio, and more—have undergone placebo-controlled RCTs.

• Safety Monitoring:

  • Over 90% of these trials report safety outcomes. Rare adverse events (e.g., RotaShield intussusception, J&J COVID-19 thrombosis) are detected post-licensure via global surveillance systems like VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System)  and VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalinks) databases.

• Transparency & Trust:

  • This comprehensive resource underscores that vaccines rank among the most rigorously tested medicines, promoting transparency to rebuild public confidence and counter misinformation.

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