A key vaccine committee, newly appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted against recommending certain vaccines that contain a preservative long targeted by anti-vaccine advocates despite broad scientific consensus on its safety.
The call against the preservative, called thimerasol, was first presented by Lyn Redwood, former leader of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, during a June 26 meeting for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
She argued that thimerosal is a neurotoxin and the panel should recommend only thimerosal-free flu vaccines for all pregnant women, infants and children. The panel also voted the same recommendation for adults.
Health experts were shocked to see that thimerosal, a preservative that has largely been phased out of U.S. vaccines, was on the ACIP agenda when it was posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website June 25.
Before the vote, panel members argued back and forth on whether thimerosal is safe, despite scientific literature showing no link between vaccines containing the preservative and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
