US CDC vaccine presentation cites study that does not exist, author says

WASHINGTON - A review on the use of the preservative thimerosal in vaccines slated to be presented on June 26 to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s outside vaccine committee cites a study that does not exist, the scientist listed as the study’s author said.

The report, called Thimerosal As A Vaccine Preservative and published on the CDC website on June 24, is to be presented by Ms Lyn Redwood, a former leader of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defence.

It makes reference to a study called Low-level Neonatal Thimerosal Exposure: Long-term Consequences In The Brain, published in the journal Neurotoxicology in 2008, and co-authored by UC Davis’ Professor Emeritus Robert Berman.

But according to Dr Berman, “it’s not making reference to a study I published or carried out”.

Dr Berman said he co-authored a similarly named study in a different journal – Toxicological Sciences – that came to different conclusions than those suggested by Ms Redwood.

“We did not examine the effects of thimerosal in microglia... I do not endorse this misrepresentation of the research,” he said.

Reuters is the first to report on the inaccurate citation from Ms Redwood’s planned presentation. Later on June 24, the CDC uploaded a new version of Ms Redwood’s presentation, removing the slide that cited the Berman study.

The meeting has become increasingly controversial after US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr just weeks ago

abruptly fired all previous 17 members

of the expert panel and named eight new members, half of whom have advocated against vaccines.

Mr Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine activist, founded the Children’s Health Defence.

Republican US Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Democratic US Senator Patty Murray of Washington said the June 25 and 26 meeting should be postponed.

The summary of the presentation suggested that there are enough thimerosal-free flu vaccines and that all pregnant women, infants and children should receive only those shots. It was not clear if the new advisory panel would be asked to vote on such a move.

Ms Redwood’s presentation was in contrast to a separate report posted by CDC staff on the CDC website on June 24 that says evidence does not support a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Mr Kennedy has long pushed a link between vaccines and autism contrary to scientific evidence.

Ms Redwood could not be immediately reached for comment. A US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesman said the study being referenced was the Toxicological Sciences study Dr Berman said was being misrepresented.

The CDC’s briefing material reviewed some studies on neurodevelopmental outcomes and vaccines that contain thimerosal, which has long been used in the US in multi-dose vials of medicines and vaccines to prevent germs from growing in them.

According to the CDC report, 96 per cent of all influenza vaccines in the US were thimerosal-free during the 2024-25 flu season. It also added that the number of pregnant women receiving a thimerosal-containing flu vaccine has decreased over time, with only 0.3 per cent of doses given in 2024 containing thimerosal.

Mr Kennedy wrote a book in 2014 claiming that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, causes brain damage.

On June 23, Mr Cassidy, who heads the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions, called for the meeting to be delayed, saying it should not take place with a relatively small panel and without a CDC director in place.

Ms Murray, a senior member and former chair of the Help Committee, has also called for the fired panel members to be reinstated or the meeting be delayed until new members are appropriately vetted. REUTERS