In late 2014, the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice wished to clarify the meaning of the language of the CDC’s Pertussis Vaccine Information Statement when it referred to, “lowered consciousness,” as a serious adverse outcome of the vaccine. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/dtap.pdf “Severe problems (very rare) • Serious allergic reaction (less than 1 out of a million doses) • Several other severe problems have been reported after DTaP vaccine. These include: – Long-term seizures, coma, or lowered consciousness – Permanent brain damage.” [emphasis added] Because we could not find “lowered consciousness” as a term defined in the medical literature with any specific description, […]