Thimerosal/Mercury
Toxic mercury exposure has a wide range of adverse health effects. Currently in the United States there is a public health effort to reduce human exposure to mercury from all sources.
As part of this effort, in July 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service (US PHS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a joint statement formally requesting that manufacturers eliminate or reduce the amount of thimerosal (a mercury-containing compound) in vaccines.
While there is no evidence that any child has been harmed by the mercury content of a vaccine, some parents and health care providers still have questions: What is thimerosal? Why is it in some vaccines? Does it present a risk to children? Is it still in the vaccines that children receive? They should be reassured by the report of the Institute of Medicine's Vaccine Safety Committee, however.
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This article answers the most frequently asked questions about thimerosal and its use as a preservative in vaccines.
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Thimerosal-free trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) is not available in the United States. However, TIV is available both with trace amounts of thimerosal and with thimerosal as a preservative.
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The Institute of Medicine's Committee on Immunization Safety Review rejected a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
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This section contains synopses of articles from the scientific, peer-reviewed literature related to thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
