The federal government is recommending flu vaccines remove the preservative thimerosal after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday officially adopted the recommendation of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel.
The move follows a 5-1-1 vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice during its June meeting. The meeting was the first for the newly remade iteration of the panel, after Kennedy fired all its previous members and handpicked their replacements.
The panel’s vote came after a presentation against thimerosal by Lyn Redwood, the former leader of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy.
Redwood was recently hired by Health and Human Services and is listed as an “expert” in the agency’s employee directory. She presented her argument against thimerosal as a private citizen, however, not as a representative of the federal government.
Thimerosal is a preservative that was widely used for decades in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines. Removing it fulfills a long-sought goal for Kennedy and many anti-vaccine activists; in his 2014 book, Kennedy wrote thimerosal was “toxic to brain tissue” and likely caused autism.
“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 statement. “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.”
The panel’s recommendations were signed by Kennedy instead of the CDC director, as Susan Monarez, President Trump’s nominee for the job, is yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Thimerosal was largely removed from pediatric vaccines by 2001 amid concerns it could be linked to autism in children and as manufacturers shifted toward single-use vials that contain little or no thimerosal.
But numerous studies have disproved an autism link and concluded thimerosal is safe. According to the CDC, “a robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.”
“Even after thimerosal was removed from almost all childhood vaccines, autism rates continued to increase, which is the opposite of what would be expected if thimerosal caused autism,” the CDC says on its website.
Thimerosal is currently used in three flu vaccines for adults sold by Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Vaccine manufacturers have confirmed they have the capacity to replace multidose vials containing the preservative, ensuring supplies will not be interrupted, Health and Human Services said.
Thimerosal-free vaccines are widely available and are the most commonly administered type of vaccine in the U.S. Vaccines containing thimerosal are more common in low-income countries, as multidose vials are less expensive.
“We acknowledge the recommendation of the new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP),” Sanofi said in a statement to The Hill. “We will have sufficient supply of Sanofi flu vaccine to support customer preference for this season.”
