thimerosal

Source: US FDA website. This page contains a wealth of information on thimerosal and its use as a preservative in vaccines, including the conclusions of the Institute of Medicine study regarding an hypothesized link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism. As is evident from the table, most vaccines in use now are thimerosal free, with the exception of injectable some flu vaccines (thimerosal free influenza vaccine is available for young children and those whose parents desire thimerosal-free flu immunization). For parents with questions about thimerosal in vaccines, I strongly recommend close study of the FDA resource material at the above link.

Table 1. Thimerosal Content of Vaccines Routinely Recommended for Children 6 Years of Age and Younger - (updated 7/18/2005*)
*Since this update, a biologics license application was approved for Rotavirus Vaccine, Tradename-RotaTeq (Merck), that is thimerosal free and never contained thimerosal.

Vaccine Tradename
(Manufacturer)
Thimerosal Status Concentration**(Mercury) Approval Date for Thimerosal Free or Thimerosal / Preservative Free (Trace Thimerosal)*** Formulation
DTaP Infanrix
(GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals)
Free Never contained more than a trace of thimerosal, approval date for thimerosal-free formulation 9/29/2000
Daptacel
(Sanofi Pasteur, Ltd)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Tripedia
(Sanofi Pasteur, Inc)
Trace(≤0.3 µg Hg/0.5mL dose) 03/07/01
DTaP-HepB-IPV Pediarix
(GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals)
Free Never contained more than a Trace of Thimerosal, approval date for thimerosal-free formulation 1/29/2007
Pneumococcal conjugate Prevnar
(Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Inactivated Poliovirus IPOL
(Sanofi Pasteur, SA)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Varicella (chicken pox) Varivax
(Merck & Co, Inc)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Mumps, measles, and rubella M-M-R-II
(Merck & Co, Inc)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Hepatitis B Recombivax HB
(Merck & Co, Inc)
Free 08/27/99
Engerix B
(GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals)
Free 03/28/00, approval date for thimerosal-free formulation 1/30/2007
Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate (Hib) ActHIB
(Sanofi Pasteur, SA)
OmniHIB
(GlaxoSmithKline)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
PedvaxHIB
(Merck & Co, Inc)
Free 08/99
HibTITER, single dose
(Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)1
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Hib/Hepatitis B combination Comvax
(Merck & Co, Inc)
Free Never contained Thimerosal
Influenza Fluzone
(Sanofi Pasteur, Inc)
0.01% (12.5 µg/0.25 mL dose, 25 µg/0.5 mL dose)2  
Fluzone
(Sanofi Pasteur, Inc)3
(no thimerosal)
Free 12/23/2004
Fluvirin
(Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd)
0.01% (25 µg/0.5 mL dose)  
Fluvirin
(Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd)
(Preservative Free)
Trace (<1ug Hg/0.5mL dose) 09/28/01
Influenza, live FluMist4
(MedImmune Vaccines, Inc)
Free Never contained Thimerosal

** Thimerosal is approximately 50% mercury (Hg) by weight. A 0.01% solution (1 part per 10,000) of thimerosal contains 50 µg of Hg per 1 mL dose or 25 µg of Hg per 0.5 mL dose.
*** The term "trace" has been taken in this context to mean 1 microgram of mercury per dose or less.
1 HibTiITER was also manufactured in thimerosal-preservative containing multidose vials but these were no longer available after 2002.
2 Children 6 months old to less than 3 years of age receive a half-dose of vaccine, i.e., 0.25 mL; children 3 years of age and older receive 0.5 mL.
3 A trace thimerosal containing formulation of Fluzone was approved on 9/14/02 and has been replaced with the formulation without thimerosal.
4 FluMist is not indicated for children less than 5 years of age.




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