(Recorder of Georgia) The main vaccination panel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 5-1 to outlaw thimerosal, a safe preservative found in a small percentage of flu shots. Critics claim this is a concession to vaccine doubters who have been obsessed with the chemical’s usage.
The action revokes the public’s, pregnant women’s, and children’s recommendations for flu shots that contain thimerosal. According to CDC study, the substance has no negative effects.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also voted 6-0 to approve the annual flu vaccine for everyone older than six months, 5-2 to approve a monoclonal antibody shot made by Merck to protect infants under eight months from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and 7-0 to add RSV to a program that offers free vaccines to children whose families cannot afford them.
The committee was created in 1964 and is responsible for establishing national standards regarding who should receive vaccinations against a wide range of diseases that can be prevented and when. The guidelines also have a significant impact on the accessibility of vaccinations for the general public and the vaccines that insurance companies are prepared to fund. They also aid in directing vaccination policies worldwide.
For the first time since U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 committee members and replaced them with a slate of eight hand-picked nominees, some of whom are viewed as vaccination doubters, ACIP is convening this week.
Although some committee members have accepted the term “anti-vaxer,” committee chair Martin Kulldorff has criticized the moniker and underlined the importance of fostering public trust in the CDC’s recommendations.
In a joint statement, the committee members stated that safeguarding the public’s health is our top priority and that we recognize the need to respond to the request to restore trust in the scientific examination process.
We will make decisions as though we were addressing our own families, and we entered this meeting with no preconceived notions.
The votes also revealed the opinions of specific committee members about vaccines. The only vote against the thimerosal ban was cast by Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatrics and medicine professor at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine and a former committee member.
“I don’t know of any risk from thimerosal, but the risk from influenza is so much higher,” he said.
Voting was not done by Vicky Pebsworth, a registered nurse and board member of the National Vaccine Information Center, which supports vaccine exemptions.
A controversial ingredient
Since the 1930s, immunizations have incorporated thimerosal, an antiseptic produced from mercury, to protect against dangerous bacteria and fungus. By 2001, the ingredient was eliminated from all kids vaccines in the United States, and as of right now, it is present in just 4% of flu shots that are provided in multi-dose vials. But antivaccine advocates have seized on thimerosal, pointing to baseless claims that the chemical causes autism and other negative health effects.
Shortly after Lyn Redwood, the former leader of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense, gave a presentation to the committee about the chemical, the committee voted Thursday to prohibit thimerosal from flu shots. According to the Washington Post on Wednesday, Kennedy just appointed Redwood, who has long supported conspiracy theories around vaccines, to assist in ensuring vaccine safety at the CDC. Redwood is now listed as an employee in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services directory.
Despite the lack of scientific proof, Redwood’s presentation made the case that thimerosal has been demonstrated to cause autism. A study that doesn’t seem to exist was cited in an early edition of her slides that suggested thimerosal could have long-term effects on the brain. Later, the document was deleted and a new version was created without the fake citation.
Thimerosal has not been linked to autism or any other possible risk, according to the CDC’s own study. The ingredient is still present in the majority of vaccines worldwide, however it is not commonly utilized in those administered in the United States.
The committee’s focus on reexamining established evidence to placate vaccine doubters was questioned by Jodie Guest, the senior vice chair of Emory University’s epidemiology department and a faculty member on the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program.
According to Guest, there isn’t much of a scientific issue with revisiting [thimerosal] and removing it from the few remaining vaccines. However, from the standpoint of communication, it keeps spreading the idea that it is connected to neurological conditions.
According to Guest, there are some circumstances in which it could be more sensible to use a vaccine that contains thimerosal. Because they are less expensive to manufacture, multi-vial doses of vaccines are more likely to be utilized in rural areas where vaccinations are given less regularly.
“We are more likely to see the multi-dose vials for the flu vaccine in our underserved communities, and that’s where thimerosal is still present,” Guest said. To prevent bacterial infections within the vaccine vials that were subsequently administered to patients, it was placed into multi-dose vials. Therefore, using it is both protective and scientifically sound.
“Any messaging that raises questions about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines could have a disproportionately negative impact on Georgia, which has a large rural population, rural health care shortages, and low vaccination rates,” Guest noted.
According to her, everything that makes it more difficult to obtain or locate a flu vaccine or raises doubts about its safety will reduce our numbers.
