An excellent medical column in The Washington Post predicts the next target in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine campaign. At the same time, the column debunks the claim that this target is hazardous to children’s health.
Dr. Leana S. Wen, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University, believes Kennedy, the Health and Human Services secretary, may seek the removal of “aluminum salts” from vaccines. He believes this ingredient can cause conditions from autism to asthma to food allergies.
“These assertions have been rigorously studied and discredited, yet federal health agencies are now revisiting the claims,” Wen wrote. “President Donald Trump himself has said he wants no aluminum in the vaccine. So it’s worth setting the record straight: There is no credible reason to eliminate this ingredient from vaccines.”
Part of the problem may be that people, upon hearing that aluminum is in vaccines, might think it means microscopic pieces of soft drink cans. But aluminum salts are altogether different from metal products.
In the first place, Wen noted that aluminum is the third-most abundant element on the planet, trailing only oxygen and silicon. Natural forms of aluminum are found in soil, air, plants, water and many foods.
Aluminum salts dissolve in the bloodstream. They are filtered by the kidneys and leave the body through urine.
A tiny amount of aluminum salts is used in many vaccines, Wen wrote, because it improves the body’s immunity response.
“Federal regulations limit vaccines to 0.85 milligrams of aluminum per dose, and many vaccines contain substantially less,” the column said. “A 2-month-old who receives all their recommended vaccines would receive just 1.1 milligrams of aluminum, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.”
A skeptic might argue that even a trace amount of aluminum could put a child’s health at risk. Fair enough. But guess what has more aluminum than a vaccine? Milk for infants.
An infant fed with breast milk is estimated to ingest 5.3 milligrams of aluminum salts per day, or about six times the level of the federal vaccine limit. Formula based on cow milk delivers 19 milligrams per day, and soy formula products put 127 milligrams of aluminum salts into a baby each day. Yet you don’t see Kennedy trying to ban these products.
Further, a 23-year study in Denmark of 1.2 million children examined whether aluminum salts in vaccines could be linked to 50 medical conditions, including neurodevelopmental disorders, allergic diseases and autoimmune disorders. There was no association with any of them.
Kennedy, as he does, called the Danish study deceptive. The editor of the medical journal that published the results said the study provided rigorous evidence, and that critics opposed it only because it did not match their beliefs.
Nevertheless, Kennedy has authority now, and it may well be that he or the Food and Drug Administration gets aluminum salts removed from childhood vaccines. That would require new formulations for vaccines, which may take years to develop. Meanwhile, more children could be at greater risk of a serious disease.
Kennedy claims he wants to Make America Healthy Again, but throwing out proven vaccines is hardly the place to start.
As Wen noted, “In this administration, ideology dictates outcomes while science — no matter how sound — is no longer welcome.”
