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Understanding thimerosal, mercury, and vaccine safety
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February 2013
[PDF-299.26 KB]
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Description:Thimerosal is a mercury-containing compound that prevents the growth of dangerous bacteria and fungus. It is used as a preservative for flu vaccines in multi-dose vials, to keep the vaccine free from contamination. Thimerosal is also used during the manufacturing process for some vaccines to prevent the growth of microbes.
In 1999, as a precautionary measure, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended removing thimerosal as a preservative from vaccines to reduce mercury exposure among infants as much as possible.
Today, except for some flu vaccines in multi-dose vials, no recommended childhood vaccines contain thimerosal as a preservative.
In all other recommended childhood vaccines, no thimerosal is present, or the amount of thimerosal is close to zero.
No reputable scientific studies have found an association between thimerosal in vaccines and autism.
There are two different compounds that contain mercury: ethylmercury and methylmercury. The low levels of ethylmercury in vaccines are broken down by the body differently and clear out of the blood more quickly than methylmercury.
Last reviewed February 2013
231405C
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Pages in Document:2 unnumbered pages
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