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To the Editor: In his editorial regarding thimerosal (a mercury-containing preservative) in vaccines, Dr Halsey¹ stated that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics should express a preference for thimerosal-free diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines for infants. Halsey recently championed a similar policy delaying the use of thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine for low-risk infants.¹

While well-intentioned, the policy to delay hepatitis B vaccine in infants was confusing to practitioners and put many children at risk for hepatitis B infection. The policy was poorly conceived for several reasons. First, there is no evidence that ethylmercury, at levels contained in vaccines, is harmful to the developing nervous system. Second, the delay in hepatitis B immunization from birth to age 6 months assumed that low-risk infants were at no risk of infection with hepatitis B virus. Third, the policy to delay . . . [Full Text of this Article]

RELATED ARTICLE

Limiting Infant Exposure to Thimerosal in Vaccines and Other Sources of Mercury
Neal A. Halsey
JAMA. 1999;282(18):1763-1766.
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