Thimerosal in Vaccines

What is thimerosal?

Thimerosal is a chemical used to prevent prevent germs, like bacteria or fungi, from growing in the vaccines. If germs were to grow in vaccines, they could cause people to become sick or even die.

Controversy on Thimerosal

A lot of the controversy around vaccines causing autism in the United States stems from the use of a chemical called thimerosal as an additive in vaccines. People worry about thimerosal because it contains mercury that people believe will make people sick. While this is a common thought, there are different types of mercury and the kind of mercury in thimerosal does not make people sick. Types of mercury found in fish remain in the body while the type in thimerosal does not stay in the body. Common everyday items like contact lens solution, milk, and seafood naturally exposes us to mercury. According to the CDC, thimerosal has been used in vaccines since the 1930s and there is no evidence that it causes harm. Since 2001, thimerosal has not been used in vaccines for children, but some flu vaccines today still contain this additive. Despite numerous research supporting

that thimerosal does not cause autism, people still believe that it does. The reason most people link autism to vaccines is that autism is diagnosed during the same age range that children receive their routine immunizations. Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study connecting autism to the MMR vaccine left a huge impact on the world despite the article being retracted by the very journal that published it because of how flawed the study was. Even as of today, there has been no evidence that links autism to vaccines.

From researching, I believe the biggest reason why people are against the use of thimerosal in vaccines is the misconception that the mercury in thimerosal can harm people. I personally did not know that there are different types of mercury so if someone told me the flu shot I was being given contained mercury, I would probably question it too. In order to combat this misconception, people need to be informed that the type of mercury in this vaccine is not the same kind that causes harm. If they still do not believe it, then they can choose to get the vaccine that does not contain thimerosal and risk the possibility of becoming infected from germs.