Eight Hospital Employees Fired For Refusing Flu Vaccines

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174. The unsubstantiated claim was that aluminum was used in live flu vaccines

Which it is not. Thimerosal, the mercury containing compound used in some vaccines, is not in the live flu nasal-spray vaccine used in this country, as I documented with a quote from the CDC:

No, the nasal-spray flu vaccine LAIV (FluMist®) does not contain thimerosal or any other preservative.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/nasalspray.htm

Frankly it does not matter if thimerosal were to be used in flu or any other vaccines since there are no reputable studies that show it causes any harm.

CDC Study on “Prenatal and Infant Exposure to Thimerosal from Vaccines and Immunoglobins and Risk of Autism”

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown that prenatal and infant exposure to vaccines and immunoglobulins that contain thimerosal does not increase risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). "Prenatal and Infant Exposure to Thimerosal from Vaccines and Immunoglobins and Risk of Autism" is published in the October 2010 print edition of Pediatrics Adobe PDF file [PDF 363 KB]External Web Site Icon (published online September 13, 2010)http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-0309v1.pdf).

How was this CDC study conducted?

CDC conducted a case-control study in three managed care organizations that participate in its Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Project. The VSD was established in 1990 as a collaborative effort between CDC's Immunization Safety Office and eight managed care organizations (MCOs) to monitor immunization safety and address the gaps in scientific knowledge about rare and serious adverse events following immunization.

A total of 1,008 children participated in the study; of these, 256 had ASD (case children) and 752 did not did not. The purpose of the study was to see if ethylmercury from thimerosal in vaccines or immunoglobulin products increased a child’s risk of developing autism. Ethylmercury exposure of the children and their mothers was ascertained and evaluated for possible relationship to ASD or two subtypes of ASD – autistic disorder and ASD with regression.

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to multi-dose vials (vials containing more than one dose) of vaccine to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria.

What are the main findings from this study?

This study found that children with any ASD conditions and those without ASD had similar ethylmercury exposures at the end of each exposure period from pregnancy to 20 months of age. Exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing immunizations during pregnancy (prenatally), or as a young child, was not associated with any of the ASD outcomes. The researchers found that the results were similar between boys and girls—thimerosal-containing immunizations did not increase the risk of any of the ASD outcomes.
More: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/Thimerosal/QA_Pediatrics-thimerosal-autism.html

Autism and Thimerosal: a Danish Study
Did the incidence of autism in Denmark decrease after thimerosal-containing vaccines were discontinued in 1992? No; in fact, the incidence of autism rose after 1991, according to this study.

The article

Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence from Danish Population-Based Data. Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, Thorsen P, Plesner A, Andersen PH, and Mortensen PB. Pediatrics 2003;112: 604-6. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/112/3/604

The question

Did the incidence of autism in Denmark decrease after thimerosal-containing vaccines were discontinued in 1992?

The study

Thimerosal-containing vaccines were used in Denmark from the early 1950s until 1992—when thimerosal was removed from vaccines. If thimerosal-containing vaccines were causing autism in Danish children, the removal of thimerosal from vaccines should have impacted the incidence of autism.

To see if that was the case, the researchers analyzed data on autism cases from the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register dating back to 1971.

The findings

From 1971 to 2000, 956 children were diagnosed with autism, with a rise in the number of cases in the 1990s. They found no correlation between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. The incidence [number of new cases over a time period] of autism remained fairly stable until 1990 and thereafter increased throughout the study period, including the period when thimerosal was no longer in vaccines.

Their data do not suggest a cause-and-effect relation between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/science/autism-and-thimerosal-danish-study

Repeating your pet phrase numerous times does not make it true or have any effect in a rational argument. I've asked for sources for the claims that live flu vaccines cause flu cases and that aluminum in flu vaccines cause health problems. No one who has made those claims has presented me with any sources, not even unreputable ones.

I cited one source that said aluminum is not used in flu vaccines. Flat statement - no aluminum. So now anti-vaccines people are jumping on the phrase about mercury compounds. OK, above are sources that say thimerosal is not harmful.

Please respond with coherent intelligent comments AND with reputable sources. Moronic repetition of a phrase taken out of context does not qualify.