FAQ's
About Mercury (Thimerosal) in Vaccines
Q: Is it true that all the mercury has been removed from vaccines? How
much mercury is in the flu shot and other recommended vaccines? Should I go out
of my way to find a thimerosal-free flu shot and where can I find one?
A: Even though most of the
vaccines routinely administered to infants in the United States no longer
contain more than trace amounts of ethyl mercury in the form of Thimerosal, the
entire vaccine supply is not Thimerosal-free. The most notable exception to
this is the seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine. Most, but not all, influenza
vaccine still contains Thimerosal. Notably, many vaccines used in third world
countries are mercury containing and exceed safety guidelines established in
the United States.
Information on vaccines
that contain significant amounts of Thimerosal can also be found on the Food and Drug
Administration's website and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health's Institute for Vaccine
Safety website.
Manufacturers began
voluntarily removing Thimerosal from pediatric vaccines around 2000. It is
assumed that most pediatric vaccines containing Thimerosal were “off the
shelves” by 2003. (No vaccines were recalled.) Even so, most infants are still
routinely given Thimerosal-containing influenza vaccine even though there are
Thimerosal-free and vaccines with trace amounts of Thimerosal. Infants
receiving a Thimerosal-containing influenza vaccine are dosed at 6 months with
12.5 mcg of ethyl mercury and at 7 months with an additional 12.5 mcg. Adult
Thimerosal-containing vaccines contain roughly 25mcg. These Thimerosal-containing
version exceed federal safety guidelines mentioned earlier. For more
information, you can review a special write-up on the NVIC website, titled
"Aluminum and Vaccine
Ingredients: What Do We Know? What Don't We Know?"
Depending on the vaccines
administered, at six months of age, infants today born to mothers who received
flu vaccine during pregnancy could receive up to 71 mcg of ethyl mercury
compared to 187.5 mcg prior to efforts to decrease the amount of thimerosal in
infant vaccines.
Additionally, the CDC guidelines recommend that all children
receive an annual influenza vaccine beginning at 6 months of age. As a result,
the total amount of thimerosal given to children under 5 years of age is almost
what it was prior to 2000.
There are other sources of
mercury exposure in infants. Specifically, it should be recognized that
influenza vaccine recommended for pregnant women and some rhogam preparations
contain ethyl mercury in the form of thimerosal. Total mercury burden include
other sources including dental amalgams (silver fillings), food especially some
types of fish, and air pollution from coal-fired power plants and wildfires.
Concerns regarding mercury
in vaccines were addressed in a letter published by the Journal Pediatrics on
March 13, 2008 (update 3/17/2016: letter is no longer available online). As noted in the letter,
parents and pregnant women may want to consider the following data and make an
informed decision.
·
0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury = Kills human neuroblastoma
cells (Parran et al., Toxicol Sci 2005; 86: 132-140).
·
2 ppb mercury = U.S. EPA
limit for drinking water.
·
20 ppb mercury = Neurite membrane structure destroyed (Leong et
al., Neuroreport 2001; 12: 733-37).
·
200 ppb mercury = level in liquid the EPA classifies as hazardous waste.
·
25,000 ppb mercury = Concentration of mercury in the Hepatitis B
vaccine, administered at birth in the U.S., from 1990-2001.
·
50,000 ppb Mercury = Concentration of mercury in multi-dose DTaP
and Haemophilus B vaccine vials, administered 4 times each in the 1990's to
children at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age.
·
50,000 ppb Mercury = Current "preservative" level
mercury in multi-dose flu (94% of supply), meningococcal and tetanus (7 and
older) vaccines. This can be confirmed by simply analyzing the multi- dose
vials.
NVIC does not maintain a
list of places that stock mercury-free flu shots, as availability and locations
differ from state to state. We recommend that you call doctor's offices, public
health clinics, pharmacies or your state's health department for this
information.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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