For years, antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is now the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has asserted that thimerosal, the ethyl mercury preservative in some vaccines, causes autism. Earlier this month, he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the federal advisory committee that develops recommendations on the use of vaccines for civilians in the United States.
Kennedy has since replaced them with handpicked appointees who share his beliefs. On Thursday, the new members voted to confirm the secretary's unscientific claims about the illusory dangers of thimerosal by no longer recommending flu vaccines that contain the preservative. Multi-dose vaccine vials containing thimerosal comprise about 4 percent of all annual flu shots. Keep in mind that thimerosal was removed from most vaccines in 2001.
Amusingly, on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new report reviewing numerous studies that conclusively found no connection between the minute quantity of thimerosal in vaccines and autism. That report mysteriously disappeared a day later from the CDC's website.
