US Vaccine Panel Recommends Thimerosal-Free Flu Shots Amid Safety Debate

Under President Trump's administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reshaped the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing its members with vaccine skeptics and steering the panel to recommend flu vaccinations that exclude the preservative thimerosal. Despite decades of scientific studies affirming the safety of thimerosal, which is used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccines primarily in multi-dose vials, the newly appointed seven-member committee voted to endorse only thimerosal-free single-dose flu shots and nasal spray vaccines. The decision was influenced heavily by presentations from anti-vaccine advocates and proceeded without the usual public review of CDC scientific data. Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, has been controversially linked by anti-vaccine groups to autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, although no credible evidence supports these claims. The CDC and FDA maintain that thimerosal-containing vaccines are safe, and the removal of thimerosal from most childhood vaccines since 2001 was a precautionary measure to limit mercury exposure. This policy change marks a significant shift in U.S. vaccine advisory practices and has raised questions about the influence of vaccine skepticism within the federal health apparatus.