Overview
- At a Washington food‑allergy conference on Nov. 17, the health secretary said aluminum in some vaccines may help explain rising food allergies and conceded there is no supporting science.
- He urged new research on childhood vaccine adjuvants and suggested pesticides and ultra‑processed foods could also be factors, offering no evidence for those ideas.
- The CDC says aluminum salts have been used safely in vaccines for decades, noting mixed research that includes a 2022 observational signal for asthma and a larger 2023 Danish study finding no association.
- Kennedy attacked the Danish study and demanded a retraction that the journal declined, as President Trump previously called for removing aluminum from vaccines and a CDC advisory panel plans to discuss adjuvants in December.
- Senior administration science officials attended the event, and aluminum‑containing vaccines from GSK, Merck, Pfizer, and Sanofi remain widely used to prevent diseases such as polio, hepatitis, HPV, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, meningitis, and pneumonia.