RFK Jr. greenlights removing preservative from flu shots
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The Health and Human Services Department on Wednesday said it adopted a recommendation from Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine advisers to remove from all influenza shots a preservative that anti-vaccine activists have suggested is linked to autism.
Why it matters: The move hinged on the widely discredited belief that the mercury-containing compound, thimerosal, is harmful at the level at which it's included in vaccines.
- Despite the lack of evidence of harm, most Americans who get flu vaccines already receive products without thimerosal.
The latest: Kennedy, in a statement, said the action fulfilled a promise to protect vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure.
- "Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility," Kennedy said. "Today, we put safety first."
- The Centers for Disease Control customarily acts on such recommendations. But because the CDC lacks a full-time political leader, Kennedy signed the recommendation.
- HHS said that vaccine manufacturers confirmed that they have the capacity to replace multi-dose vials containing the preservative so that the federal Vaccines for Children program and adult vaccine supplies won't be interrupted.
Kennedy's handpicked vaccine advisers voted 5-1 last month to no longer recommend that Americans get flu shots containing thimerosal, following a presentation from a retired nurse and former president of Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group with close ties to Kennedy.
- The panel voted to recommend that children, pregnant women and adults only get single-dose seasonal flu vaccines that are thimerosal-free.
- Kennedy has long promoted the belief that vaccines or other environmental factors have led to increased autism diagnoses in children.
