Is thimerosal still in the vaccines that children receive?
Currently, all pediatric vaccines in the routine infant immunization schedule are manufactured without thimerosal as a preservative. As of January 14, 2003, the final lots of vaccines containing thimerosal as a preservative expired.
Other vaccines (for example, influenza vaccine; tetanus and diphtheria vaccine for older children and adults) continue to be manufactured with thimerosal as a preservative—although influenza vaccine without thimerosal preservative is also available.
Trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) has recently been recommended for all children 6-23 months of age, in addition to the long-standing recommendations to give TIV to children and adults with certain medical conditions as well as older adults.
Thimerosal-free TIV is not available in the United States. However, TIV is available both with trace amounts of thimerosal and with thimerosal as a preservative.
The amount of thimerosal in current influenza vaccines is so low that it should not raise concern. The concern in 1999 regarding thimerosal in childhood vaccines was for their administration to infants in the first 6 months of life and reflected the possible cumulative total ethyl mercury burden from all the thimerosal-containing products administered at newborn, 2, 4 and 6 months of age.
For a current listing of the mercury concentration in most U.S. licensed vaccines, you can access the website of the FDA or the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Vaccine Safety.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences—a private, independent organization created by the federal government to be an adviser on scientific and technological matters—has established an independent expert committee to review immunization safety concerns, including thimerosal in vaccines.
On October 1, 2001, the IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee issued its report “Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders,” concluding, “The hypothesis that thimerosal exposure through the recommended childhood immunization schedule has caused neurodevelopmental disorders is not supported by clinical or experimental evidence”.
Since that review, several new studies have looked for, but not found—an association of thimerosal exposure with autism and other developmental disorders (see References).
In 2004, the IOM Vaccine Safety Committee again began a review to consider any possible associations between vaccines and the occurrence of autism. The 2004 report, “Vaccines and Autism” states that “the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.”
Notes
Other vaccines (for example, influenza vaccine; tetanus and diphtheria vaccine for older children and adults) continue to be manufactured with thimerosal as a preservative—although influenza vaccine without thimerosal preservative is also available.
Trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) has recently been recommended for all children 6-23 months of age, in addition to the long-standing recommendations to give TIV to children and adults with certain medical conditions as well as older adults.
Thimerosal-free TIV is not available in the United States. However, TIV is available both with trace amounts of thimerosal and with thimerosal as a preservative.
The amount of thimerosal in current influenza vaccines is so low that it should not raise concern. The concern in 1999 regarding thimerosal in childhood vaccines was for their administration to infants in the first 6 months of life and reflected the possible cumulative total ethyl mercury burden from all the thimerosal-containing products administered at newborn, 2, 4 and 6 months of age.
For a current listing of the mercury concentration in most U.S. licensed vaccines, you can access the website of the FDA or the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Vaccine Safety.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences—a private, independent organization created by the federal government to be an adviser on scientific and technological matters—has established an independent expert committee to review immunization safety concerns, including thimerosal in vaccines.
On October 1, 2001, the IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee issued its report “Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders,” concluding, “The hypothesis that thimerosal exposure through the recommended childhood immunization schedule has caused neurodevelopmental disorders is not supported by clinical or experimental evidence”.
Since that review, several new studies have looked for, but not found—an association of thimerosal exposure with autism and other developmental disorders (see References).
In 2004, the IOM Vaccine Safety Committee again began a review to consider any possible associations between vaccines and the occurrence of autism. The 2004 report, “Vaccines and Autism” states that “the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.”
Notes
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