"A CDC panel’s vote to stop recommending thimerosal-containing flu shots would have limited impact, but it illustrates how the anti-vaccine movement is achieving its goals." 

"ATLANTA — Federal vaccine advisers installed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted Thursday to effectively remove an ingredient from flu shots, achieving a longtime, controversial goal of anti-vaccine activists and illustrating how their priorities are becoming official government guidance.

The vote to no longer recommend influenza vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal, based on the presentation of a single vaccine critic, is likely to have limited impact because the vast majority of flu shots are thimerosal-free. But it would probably make the shots more expensive and harder to receive in parts of the country, public health experts said, and showed the panel’s willingness to disregard scientific evidence.

Those experts were surprised that Kennedy’s newly reformulated Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) abruptly added thimerosal to the agenda of its first meeting because they considered the issue resolved decades ago. Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prepared a report, later taken offline, which analyzed decades of evidence to conclude the preservative is safe and not linked to conditions such as autism.

But Kennedy, the founder of the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense, has long criticized the use of thimerosal because it metabolizes into a form of mercury in the body that he says is dangerous. Kennedy edited a 2015 book aimed at persuading the CDC to remove thimerosal in any vaccines. In a lengthy X post Tuesday, Kennedy decried the use of thimerosal and criticized a media outlet for describing it as safe."

Lauren Weber and Lena H. Sun report for the Washington Post June 26, 2025. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"What to Know About the Vaccine Preservative Thimerosal" (New York Times) [3]

"Kennedy’s New Advisers Rescind Recommendations for Some Flu Vaccines" (New York Times) [4]

"RFK Jr. Says U.S. Will Stop Funding Global Vaccine Alliance Gavi" (Washington Post) [5]

"What Is Thimerosal, The Flu Vaccine Ingredient Targeted By RFK Jr.?" (Washington Post) [6]