Robert F Kennedy Jr will mandate vaccine makers to eliminate thimerosal from vaccines. The preservative, targeted by anti-vaccine movements, will be removed following a federal advisory panel's recommendation. There is no evidence indicating harm from thimerosal, which is used in a small proportion of adult influenza vaccines. Kennedy states that eliminating mercury from vaccines is vital for public health. He differentiates ethylmercury from methylmercury found in fish. Critics of thimerosal's removal argue that the decision lacked scientific backing and fueled anti-vaccine sentiments.
Kennedy's formal requirement for vaccine makers to remove thimerosal addresses decades of anti-vaccine campaigns against the preservative, despite its long history and lack of evidence showing harm.
The ethylmercury-based preservative thimerosal has a shorter half-life in the body compared to methylmercury, which is found in seafood, raising questions about its removal.
Kennedy emphasized that injecting any amount of mercury into children, when safe alternatives exist, defies common sense and public health responsibility.
Critics have argued that the precautionary phase-out of thimerosal in childhood vaccines in 1999 was not scientifically supported, causing confusion and empowering anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Collection
[
|
...
]