Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Saturday a significant victory in public health policy: the United States has officially banned the use of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, in all vaccines. This announcement culminates Kennedy's two-decade-long effort to eliminate what he has consistently labeled a dangerous neurotoxin from vaccines administered to children and pregnant women.
Thimerosal, which has been used for many years in multi-dose vaccine vials to prevent bacterial contamination, contains ethylmercury. Critics like Kennedy have argued that ethylmercury poses safety risks, especially to vulnerable groups. While most childhood vaccines excluded thimerosal starting in the early 2000s, it remained in seasonal flu shots until now.
Kennedy delivered the news through a detailed video statement, in which he was critical of federal health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their reluctance to remove thimerosal from vaccines despite mounting evidence and internal concerns about its risks.
“I’m proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise: protecting our most vulnerable from unnecessary mercury exposure,” Kennedy stated on social media platform X.
The CDC's new recommendation, which was formally approved in June and implemented last week according to Breitbart, now ensures that thimerosal is no longer a component in any U.S. vaccines. Pharmaceutical companies have expressed their readiness to meet the demand for mercury-free, single-dose flu vaccines without resorting to chemical preservatives.
In his statement, Kennedy highlighted a 2001 congressional hearing where FDA official William Egan conceded that the FDA had not conducted human safety studies on thimerosal. Kennedy questioned the rationale behind injecting a substance into babies and pregnant women without thorough safety testing. He also pointed to a 2017 CDC-funded study linking flu vaccines containing thimerosal to a 7.7-fold increase in miscarriage risk and a JAMA study from the same year that found a correlation between flu shots in the first trimester and an increase in autism diagnoses.
Kennedy emphasized the discrepancy between the high levels of ethylmercury in thimerosal-containing flu shots—25,000 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's limit for mercury in drinking water—and the classification of thimerosal as a neurotoxin, mutagen, carcinogen, and reproductive hazard. He also mentioned studies suggesting that mercury from vaccines can remain in the brain for decades.
Despite opposition from pharmaceutical companies and media criticism, Kennedy remained steadfast in his mission. He drew a parallel between his efforts to remove mercury from vaccines and his past environmental advocacy, humorously noting, "I spent four years trying to get mercury out of fish, and nobody called me anti-fish."
Kennedy commended President Trump's agency reform efforts, which he believes played a role in achieving the ban. He sees this as a critical step in rebuilding American trust in federal health institutions. Moreover, Kennedy called for international bodies to emulate the U.S. and remove mercury from vaccines globally, criticizing the World Health Organization and GAVI for their continued use of thimerosal in lower-income countries.
The announcement comes shortly after the Gates Foundation pledged $1.6 billion to GAVI, which Kennedy linked to his broader concerns about global vaccine policy and corporate influence. He concluded by underscoring that the ban signifies an end to the dismissal of scientific evidence and the prioritization of profit over public health.
