RFK Jr. wins his fight against a rare, safe flu-shot ingredient

The Washington Post ^ | June 26, 2025 | Lauren Weber and Lena H. Sun

[E. Pluribus Unum]

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, showing that the preservative is safe.

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 book aimed at persuading the CDC to remove thimerosal in any vaccines more than a decade ago.

Now Kennedy will be able to enact that ban and is upending other vaccine policies once considered bipartisan and stable, even as administrations changed.

“The fearmongering and speculation by the mainstream media that this committee would cast doubt on vaccines to promote hesitancy were not just wrong, they were reckless and defamatory,” HHS...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

...and showed the panel’s willingness to disregard scientific evidence.

Would this be the kind of "scientific evidence" that just forced Wiley to close 19 "scientific journals" because of the 11,000 fraudulent articles they had to retract?

https://www.wsj.com/science/academic-studies-research-paper-mills-journals-publishing-f5a3d4bc

[kiryandil]

The hate spewed by the Gaslight Media is never-ending.

[kiryandil]

Lauren Weber and Lena H. Sun are failed English majors hectoring us about “science”.

[SamuraiScot]

Would this be the kind of "scientific evidence" that just forced Wiley to close 19 "scientific journals" because of the 11,000 fraudulent articles

Just that kind.

They say to each other, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine and we get this sucker approved. . . But hell, neither of us is going to let our own families near these freaking death-jabs."

[Texas Eagle]

. ...thimerosal metabolizes into a form of mercury in the body

[E. Pluribus Unum]

...thimerosal metabolizes into a form of mercury in the body

Safe, and effective.

[mewzilla]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/lena-h-sun/

Hmmmmm...

[mewzilla]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/lauren-weber/

Ditto.

[Texas Eagle]

Mm-hm.

[Texas Eagle]

I’ll take my chances with the flu.

[Cold Heart]

And that may be why, or not, I have nerve damage in my left (shot) arm (many many years before clot shot nerve damage).

[ETCM]

Thimerosal, an ethylmercury, is 50% mercury by weight and is already not recommended for childhood vaccines. It’s already banned in Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Ireland.

Methylmercury and ethylmercury distribute to all body tissues, crossing the blood–brain barrier and the placental barrier, and ethylmercury also moves freely throughout the body.

[catnipman]

thimerasol = mercury compound ... anyone here care to be injected with mercury? ... how about injecting mercury into your babies? ... after all, it’s just a little bit ... sort of like Martha Radner’s, well it’s “just a few”, or “peaceful” riots” ... thimerasol is generally used only in multi-dose vials, which is simply a means to make shit cheaper than single does vials ...

[algore]

I dont need more mercury. I get all i need from tuna

[webheart]

“just” as in March 2024?

[cgbg]

The Compost is a good tool for medical advice.

If they say something is safe it is dangerous.

If they say something is dangerous it is safe!

[Bigg Red]

Flux shots — dangerous and a waste of time and money.

[cgbg]

Correct answer.

I trust Big Pharma as far as I can throw them—and I know most caregivers have done zero independent research on this stuff.

[exinnj]

Anything containing mercury (Hg) like thimerosal shouldn’t be put inside the human body. This preservative with antibacterial and antifungal properties, can and should be replaced with other similar mercury-free agents, even at the cost. Biological effects of mercury poisoning are well known. No amount of studies can convince reasonable people (parents) that this ingredient is safe.

[Bigg Red]

*Flu