Overview

• On June 25–26, the reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to discourage flu vaccines containing thimerosal and endorsed a new respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibody
• The guidance departs from World Health Organization and longstanding CDC precedent even though global experts maintain that low-dose ethylmercury poses no proven neurodevelopmental risk
• Thimerosal, an ethylmercury preservative used since the 1930s, remains in roughly 4 percent of U.S. flu vials as multi-dose syringes while single-dose, preservative-free shots make up the rest
• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this month dismissed 17 ACIP members and installed a smaller group that includes individuals with vaccine-skeptical views
• Decades of research have found no causal link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism, and experts warn that discouraging multi-dose vials could drive up costs and limit access