A recent special U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that there was no link between autism and vaccines. Since the Supreme Court has just announced today that it will decide if vaccine manufactures can be sued for an alleged link between vaccines and neurological complications (such as autism), one might wonder why and when preservatives were added in the first place.

Preservatives were added to vaccines early in the last century, according to an article published in the journal Pediatrics. Additives such as thimerosal and other substances were added as a result of a high rate of bacterial and fungal infections that developed after administering vaccines from multi-dose bottles.

Citing cases in 1916, the article states:

4 children died, 26 developed local abscesses, and 68 developed severe systemic infections after receipt of a typhoid vaccine contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.¹ As a consequence of this and similar incidents, preservatives have been required for vaccines contained in multidose vials (with some exceptions) since the 1930s.²

 The FDA moved to eliminate thimerosal from vaccines after a law was passed on November 21, 1997 that required the FDA to compile a list of food and drugs that contained mercury and simultaneously recommended that infants receive thimerosal-free vaccines.

The dispute between some advocacy groups and vaccine manufacturers about the alleged link between vaccines and autism is unlikely to go away even with the ruling handed down last week by the special U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Even if the Supreme Court rules that manufacturers can’t be sued, it won’t convince some parents that vaccines are safe. We’ll more than likely continue to see a rise in preventable and potentially life-threatening childhood illnesses as more children are left unprotected.

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