Today, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has accepted the recent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP's) recommendation to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from US flu vaccines. 

ACIP usually advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and not the HHS. ACIP recommended removing thimerosal from influenza vaccines during a meeting in June, when members voted for all children 18 years and younger, pregnant women, and adults receive only single-dose influenza vaccines free of mercury.

At least 40 studies have found thimerosal to be safe

“After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an HHS press 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.”

Thimerosal has long been a target for vaccine skeptics, who believe the preservative, which is used in small amounts to prevent contamination in multidose vaccine vials, is linked to increasing autism rates and even mercury poisoning in children .

In fact, thimerosal has been used safely since the 1930s, and more than 40 studies have proven its safety. According to the CDC, “There is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site.”

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