RFK Jr.’s new vaccine advisers to discuss preservative wrongly linked to autism

A key vaccine advisory panel handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to vote on a vaccine ingredient wrongly linked to autism as part of its scaled-down two-day meeting next week. 

It’s the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) since Kennedy fired all 17 members and appointed eight new panelists, several of whom are vocal vaccine critics.  

The draft agenda for next week’s ACIP meeting revisits issues that scientists and public health experts have long considered to be settled, including the use of the measles vaccine in children under 5 years old. 

ACIP is an influential panel that recommends which vaccines go on the childhood and adult schedules after reviewing safety data. If ACIP endorses a vaccine, insurers must cover it. 

The committee will also vote on recommendations regarding “thimerosal containing” influenza vaccines.  

Kennedy has long advocated for banning thimerosal, a preservative that was widely used for decades in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines. In his 2014 book, Kennedy said thimerosal was “toxic to brain tissue” and likely caused autism. 

Thimerosal, a compound that contains mercury, is used as a preservative to prevent harmful bacteria in multidose vials of vaccines. The compound has been largely phased out as manufacturers have shifted toward single-use vials that contain little or no thimerosal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Thimerosal was largely removed from pediatric vaccines by 2001, amid concerns that it could be linked to autism in children. But numerous studies have disproved such a link. 

According to the CDC, “a robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.” 

“Even after thimerosal was removed from almost all childhood vaccines, autism rates continued to increase, which is the opposite of what would be expected if thimerosal caused autism,” CDC says on its website. 

Thimerosal is currently used in three flu vaccines for adults sold by Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, according to the Food and Drug Administration.  

It’s unclear yet what the panel will discuss regarding the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccines (MMRV).  

The current CDC childhood vaccine schedule recommends two doses for children, with the first dose at age 12-15 months and the second at age 4-6 years. CDC suggests that the MMR vaccine be given rather than MMRV for the first dose, but both shots have been on the schedule for decades.  

The current agenda is pared down from what was previously on the schedule. The panel is no longer scheduled to vote on recommendations related to COVID-19 vaccines, as well as HPV and meningococcal vaccines. 

Last month, Kennedy changed CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine recommendation without the panel voting on it.