Availability of Hepatitis B Vaccine That Does Not Contain Thimerosal as a Preservative
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
MMWR. 1999;48:780-782
On August 27, 1999, Merck Vaccine Division* (Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, Pennsylvania) received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a supplement to Merck's license application to include the manufacture of single-antigen preservative-free hepatitis B vaccine (Recombivax HB®, Pediatric); distribution is expected to begin September 13, 1999. In addition, SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), expects to make single-antigen preservative-free hepatitis B vaccine (Engerix-B®, Pediatric) available in the near future. Further product information will be provided when it becomes available. Product packaging and labels will indicate that these vaccines do not contain preservative.
To prevent shortages because of limited supplies of single-antigen hepatitis B vaccines that do not contain thimerosal as a preservative and to assure prevention of perinatal and early childhood hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection during the transition when both vaccines that contain and do not contain thimerosal as a preservative …
