HHS: Mercury-based thimerosal is gone from U.S. vaccines

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Vaccine preservative thimerosal is officially gone from flu vaccines in the United States.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced he signed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation to remove the mercury-based additive. His signature “formally adopts the recommendation into federal health policy, fulfilling a commitment to restore trust with Americans by removing risk while sustaining access to vaccines.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
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“After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure,” Kennedy said in a news release. “Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility. Today, we put safety first.”

Helpful, not harmful

In its June meeting, ACIP voted 5-1-1 to recommend all children aged 18 years and younger, pregnant women, and adults receive only single-dose influenza vaccines with no mercury.

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound used since the 1930s as a as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including vaccines, to prevent the growth of microbes, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The substance is no longer used in the United States for vaccines routinely recommended for children aged 6 years and younger, according to FDA. It remains used in some domestic flu vaccines, according to FDA, and speakers in the ACIP meeting said it remains in use abroad in vaccine multi-dose vials.

That meeting included a presentation by Lyn Redwood RN, MSN, FP, a former leader of Kennedy’s anti-vax group Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy has named Redwood to the vaccine safety office of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACIP member Cody Meissner, MD, pointed out the difference between ethyl mercury involved with thimerosal and methyl mercury that is associated with high neurotoxicity. A commentary from the University of Minnesota’s Vaccine Integrity Project stated: “Thimerosal has long been a focus of anti-vaccine activists and the genesis for attempts to connect vaccines with autism.” Vaccine supporters have argued studies have found no evidence of harmful effects from thimerosal.

Get rid of thimerosal

Even so, the effort to remove mercury from childhood vaccines began in 1999 when the U.S. Public Health Service, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and vaccine manufacturers jointly agreed that any potential risk from mercury warranted its removal as soon as possible, according to the HHS announcement.

“This marks the final step to remove mercury from all vaccines given to Americans,” Kennedy’s HHS announcement said. ACIP “broke with long-standing inaction by voting to remove mercury entirely from all influenza vaccines, fulfilling the 1999 pledge and aligning U.S. policy with that of Europe, which phased out mercury additives years ago.”

Global perspective

Vaccine manufacturers have confirmed they have the capacity to replace multi-dose vials containing mercury, ensuring the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program and adult vaccine supplies will remain uninterrupted, according to HHS.

“With the U.S. now removing mercury from all vaccines, we urge global health authorities to follow this prudent example for the protection of children worldwide,” Kennedy said.

During the ACIP June discussion, Meissner said the additive is used in vaccines around the globe, but that is because single-dose vials are more expensive than multi-dose vials, and many countries cannot afford single-dose vials. Other nations consider ACIP recommendations, and removing thimerosal from vaccines used in other countries will increase costs and reduce access to vaccines, he said.