RFK Jr.'s Handpicked Vaccine Panel Unsurprisingly Delivers Antivaccine Conclusions

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' vote ratifies unscientific claims linking a vaccine preservative to autism.

For years, antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is now the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has asserted that thimerosal, the ethyl mercury preservative in some vaccines, causes autism. Earlier this month, he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the federal advisory committee that develops recommendations on the use of vaccines for civilians in the United States.

Kennedy has since replaced them with handpicked appointees who share his beliefs. On Thursday, the new members voted to confirm the secretary's unscientific claims about the illusory dangers of thimerosal by no longer recommending flu vaccines that contain the preservative. Multi-dose vaccine vials containing thimerosal comprise about 4 percent of all annual flu shots. Keep in mind that thimerosal was removed from most vaccines in 2001.

Amusingly, on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new report reviewing numerous studies that conclusively found no connection between the minute quantity of thimerosal in vaccines and autism. That report mysteriously disappeared a day later from the CDC's website.

Instead, the new ACIP members were treated to a presentation from Lyn Redwood, Kennedy's fellow longtime antivaccine activist. After being posted online, a study Redwood cited about the alleged neurotoxicity of thimerosal was found to be nonexistent. (Gold-standard science indeed!) The false citation quietly disappeared. RFK, Jr. is now reportedly hiring Redwood to work in the CDC's vaccine safety office.

"The fearmongering and speculation by the mainstream media that this committee would cast doubt on vaccines to promote hesitancy were not just wrong, they were reckless and defamatory," HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told The Washington Post. "The members of this committee are respected experts who take their responsibility to public health seriously. What they did today is what Secretary Kennedy appointed them to do, which is review the evidence, debate it with scientific rigor, and deliver recommendations rooted in data and medical integrity. The public deserves nothing but this."

Reviewing the evidence, debating it with scientific rigor, and delivering recommendations rooted in data and medical integrity is pretty clearly not what the ACIP did in this case. The public deserves much better than this.

Comments

[Tiger St. Elmo]

I am really enjoying my subscription to Mother Jones. I mean Reason.

[AT]

I am really enjoying my subscription to VICE. I mean Reason.

FTFY.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Hey Ronald, can you link to the study where they tested the effects of mercury on humans? Thanks!

[SQRLSY]

Did you know that the carbon in your food is the SAME carbon that is contained in carbon monoxide, which is clearly known by ALL, to be VERY dangerous!?!?! BE YE SAFE, and STOP eating carbon-containing so-called "foods"!!!!

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Poor thing doesn’t understand the difference between carbon and mercury.

[SQRLSY]

Poor shit doesn’t understand the difference between chemical elements and chemical compounds, nor between a hole in the ground and shit's VERY LARGE asshole!

Chlorine gas is toxic. Table salt (sodium chloride) is essential for life. I could go on...

[VULGAR MADMAN]

“It was the good kind of mercury!”
-Reason retard

[Wizard4169]

Actually yes. Ethyl mercury clears from the body in a matter of days. Methyl mercury accumulates in the body, so even small doses over time can be highly toxic. These are well-known and repeatedly confirm medical facts. This is only hard to understand for those who refuse to understand.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

All I've seen him so far is order a study on the health impact from the total number of vaccines now in the schedule. The horror.

[con_fuse9]

How stupid the average person is...
Is pure sodium dangerous to humans
" It can cause severe burns, tissue damage, and even explosions upon contact with water, moisture, or certain other substances"
Is chlorine dangerous to human?
"Exposure to chlorine, especially in its gaseous form, can cause serious health problems, including respiratory irritation, burns, and even death. The severity of the effects depends on the concentration and duration of exposure"

But ... NaCl or Sodium Chloride better known as salt is safe (in reasonable quatities) to humans.
How can this be? Because it is in a stable compound.
Thermosol is a compound that has been proven over and over to be safe.
In fact, Thermosol is used in some red tatoo ink.
You get a much higher exposure to methylmercury from eating a small can of tunafish. Thermosol is actually an ethylmercury compound.

And yes, if you search ethylmercury study you can find tons of them. However, you have to dig to find one that uses actual statistics not congecture.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

First carbon, now salt.

Man, I feel stupid for asking for the effects of injecting mercury into your blood.

“And yes, if you search ethylmercury study you can find tons of them. However, you have to dig to find one that uses actual statistics not congecture.”

You could have used the time you spent talking about salt and found one of these studies that used actual statistics to make your point.

Unless your point was that salt is better for humans than mercury, which I would agree with.

[SQRLSY]

"You could have used the time you spent BLATHERING WITH STUPID INSULTS and found one of these studies that used actual statistics to make your point."

I don't see YOUR PervFected links! I could find you a link explaining the differences between chemical elements and chemical compounds, but You are Already PervFected, so I won't waste my time!

[bobodoc]

It's thimerosal not thermosol. You also typed congecture for conjecture. Take a deep breath and slow your mind down. Then type.

[bobodoc]

My reply was to con_fuse9 (sorry for any "confusion"). Notice he started his post with "How stupid the average person is..."

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Considering what crap advice the CDC, NIH, and all the other government advisory busybodies had to offer before this, I don't see how this could be any worse. Still busybody, still biased.

[con_fuse9]

Crap advise because YOU didn't like it.
Of course Trump suggested bleach injections.

[Doug Heffernan]

To be fair, there haven't been any rigorous double-blind peer reviewed studies of the efficacy of bleach injections.

RFK hasn't taken a position on bleach one way or the other. His recipe for prevention mostly involves cod liver oil, raw milk, and mega doses of vitamin D. He says that some gold standard stuff backs up all of those methods as being safe and effective.

[bobodoc]

Omg...you also believe the "good people on both sides" hoax, too, I bet.

[bye]

The second dumbest man in US history started that and you, the first, repeated it.

"And when it comes to COVID-19, after months of doing nothing, other than predicting the virus would disappear, or maybe if you drank bleach you may be okay, Trump has simply given up," said Biden, who delivered his remarks at a metalworks factory near his hometown of Scranton on Thursday.

[Winston in Wonderland]

Government advice on nutrition and medicine has always reflected the whims of appointed panel members.

Just look at the contradictory C19 vaccination advice issued during the Biden Administration--"Vaccines are Safe, even if the FDA won't approve them."

Who do you believe?

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Nobody.

[con_fuse9]

FDA gave limited approval.
Its a risk balance. Percentage chance of negative outcome of a COVID19 infection vs. negative outcome of a vaccine. If there isn't a clear benefit to a certain group, the FDA typically doesn't approve it.

[LongTimeListenerFirstTimeCaller]

@con_fused9 - now do the autism scandal.

[Minadin]

This might be a terribly biased panel. I don't know. I don't pay attention to their recommendations.

But I do think that it's worth noting that fully 67% of the previous 'fired' panel were appointed by 'Biden' in the last few weeks of his administration, after Trump won the election. Are we supposed to just hold all these people over, and presume their motivations are non-political? Science-based?

[MasterThief]

All Ron has as arguments here is appeal to authority. He doesn't like a certain individual or what they say and suddenly the conclusion is baseless or discredited. If it's someone he chooses to believe then "the science" is conclusive. Bailey doesn't follow the scientific method and has a habit of citing known hacks with blatantly biased methodologies.
Personally, I have no more reason to trust the new guys in charge vs the old ones. There's too much of an agenda in government involved science and I've lost faith in most of what we're told.
Show me the methodologies and data. Show me that the experiments are reproduced with a reasonable margin of error. Don't just shove a disconnected conclusion in my face and expect me to fall in line.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Show me the methodologies and data. Show me that the experiments are reproduced with a reasonable margin of error. Don't just shove a disconnected conclusion in my face and expect me to fall in line.

Do you understand the methodologies? Do you understand the methodologies to such an extent that you would be able to detect flaws in them? Do you understand the data analysis methods, including (probably) fairly advanced statistical methods? If you do, then congratulations, you are among the <5% of people in this country who can. But the rest don't, and many of them will CLAIM to say "I can draw my own conclusions", but instead, what they do is they listen to their preferred media sources to tell them the conclusions that they want to hear.

They're not "independent thinkers", they are sheep who don't want to admit that they are sheep.

[con_fuse9]

And?
Its not a dichotomy.
Publish the research used to base the decision AND the decision.
Those that review the data can help those that don't know to understand it.

[Minadin]

So, he asked for data, and you gave exactly bullshit.

Said he had no reason to trust the new guys.

You accuse people of being sheep, but the call is coming from inside the house.

[Bruce Hayden]

You do realize that the COVID-19 ModRNA “vaccines” were approved for general use without long term double blind studies. The initial studies were unblinded by the companies after showing some early efficacy, well before side effects started showing, or the virus started mutating. The unblinding made safety and long term efficacy impossible to test. As of when Trump was inaugurated, Pfizer was over three years overdue on reporting on a FDA mandated study for myocarditis and pericarditis in its ModRNA “vaccines”. You would think that vaccines that showed possible side effects of heart attacks and the like would be grounds for pulling the vaccines off the market until it was resolved. Instead, the vaccines were approved for children and then babies, despite the knowledge that these studies were still outstanding. Meanwhile, in the urgent haste to get these experimental vaccines into the veins of every American, safety studies for the processes actually utilized to manufacture the ModRNA vaccines, different from the one used for the experimental vaccines, we’re never safety tested.

Wonder why the critics like Kennedy and Malone are now in charge of vaccines? That’s why! The regulated captured control of the regulatory agencies, with a revolving door between the regulated companies and their regulators. While some vaccines are important, no one can say right now which ones are safe enough, given their efficacy (or lack, thereof). And which aren’t, given the corruption of the process.

[Roberta]

Lack of blinding doesn't make testing impossible, it's just a factor to take into account in reading the data. Observer blinding is important only where subjective observations are to be made, and subject blinding is important only where power of suggestion has a significant effect on results, or where subjects act on their knowledge in ways that affect results. For the most important types of data generated by vaccine studies, blinding is unnecessary.

[Wizard4169]

I'll take them over "panels" handpicked by a guy who's made millions peddling pseudoscience over the years.

[bye]

But that is looking at it the opposite way. The motivation was to get folks you could trust, regardless whether the booted ones were on one side or the other.

This is a logic point but it is critical. Those who agree with you might do so based on first principles you utterly reject.

So I want Prohibition as law because it will increase the sales from my still in the backyard !!

The last act is the greatest treason. To do the right deed for the wrong reason. TS Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral

[Eeyore]

No mention of the previous panel members who were fired for failure to disclose that they were getting money from Merck in exchange for recommending their products?

Nothing says bias like not getting paid.

[Incunabulum]

And Biden's handpicked pro-narrative panel would have produced the opposite.

But one recommendation you approve of so it's ok on that situation, the other you oppose so it's bad.

[MasterThief]

That is legitimately all he has to show here. He is showing his politically motivated biases.
I'm skeptical of whatever crowd RFK is bringing in and want to see them held to the fire to prove what they're saying. I think he has an agenda and will drive policy through motivated reasoning. Those who came before him were no better and have shown that they will outright lie to protect their wealth and favored drug companies/corporate affiliations.

[Incunabulum]

So thimerosal is no longer used accept in 4 percent - but it's a big deal that it's recommended to no longer use it?

Why is it no longer used except in rare cases and what is the need for it to be available for those cases?

[Minadin]

My understanding is: (Note: I'm an architect, not a doctor)

Thimerosal acts as a preservative for certain types of vaccines, which allows them to either have a longer shelf life, or be unrefrigerated for a longer span, before the doses are considered 'expired'. So it can be useful in certain situations.

[I, Woodchipper]

who cares? If you listen to what the government tells you to do about your health you're not gonna make it.

[Incunabulum]

This article would have been better if you got rid of the complaining about 'handpicked' and stuck with describing the actual problems with these people and their studies.

[Liberty_Belle]

After being posted online, a study Redwood cited about the alleged neurotoxicity of thimerosal was found to be nonexistent.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-cdc-report-shows-no-evidence-linking-thimerosal-containing-vaccines-autism-2025-06-24/
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 Berman, "it's not making reference to a study I published or carried out."

Berman said he co-authored a similarly named study in a different journal - Toxicological Sciences - that came to different conclusions than those suggested by Redwood.
"We did not examine the effects of thimerosal in microglia... I do not endorse this misrepresentation of the research," he said.
------------------------ 
So Lyn Redwood used ChatGPT to do her homework, and she got caught.

[Incunabulum]

Yes. And this is a legitimate problem.

But 'the appointees hold an opinion I don't like *therefore* they're unqualified* is not.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Poor Ron.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Hey Ron what number wuflu booster are you on?

[Dale]

RFK Jr. is a clown!

[Minadin]

But is he a funny clown or the scary clown?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

God I hope this summer brings back clown panic, better that then Covid panic.

[Social Justice is neither]

If only you hadn't blown the last of your credibility sucking Fauci's dick you might be worth reading.

[MollyGodiva]

MAGA is a death cult.

[sarcasmic]

I wish. Because if they were they'd off themselves.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Ideas!

[sarcasmic]

Science is leftist. So the right thing to do is reject it.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Sarcs idea of science is taking orders from government stooges.

[Minadin]

Biology question: Define a woman

Scientifically.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

A being that would never be seen with sarc?

[Lester75]

You don't need to have TDS to find RFK to be a clown. Let's give America Polio again! Let's give America Bird Flu! Don't worry about measles it's only fatal in infants occasionally.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

That’s why it was so smart to let millions of illegals into the country.
Right, asshole?

[bobodoc]

Bird flu deaths? In what, birds or non-human mammals? Incredibly rare infection rate in humans, when clinical usually conjunctivitis or mild cold or flu signs. And cases are becoming almost nonexistent in humans now. You want to vaccinate humans for "bird flu"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's unfortunate he didn't handpick pharma execs.

[Sequel]

The core question seems to be whether there exists any evidence at all of neurotoxicity of thimerosal to any demographic at all.

If that indeed exists, there is no justification for a CDC recommendation for all people over the age of six months to receive an annual flu shot.

There need be no prohibition on issuing a recommendation that excludes a demographic as long as that demographic is allowed to opt in for the questioned vaccine. This is routinely done for covid vaccine.

[bye]

Yet, RFK is right completely right and you are appraising his statements and actions with the same scientism that caused all those Covid lies

"It is scientism to move from “If we do X, what happens to Y?” to “We must (or must not) do X”. It is scidolatry to scream “Follow the Science!” This is why I am fond of saying that when a man says “Follow the Science!” he always means “Follow me!”"

Says William Briggs PhD Statistics

"no question of moral, ethical, religious, theological, societal, or legal importance can be answered by Science. Not one. Science cannot even provide the questions.

Science can only answer technical questions of the kind “If we do X, what happens to Y?”. Science can only report, in dry language, the answers to these questions. Science cannot decide what to do with the answers, except for the narrow exception of how these answers play in other technical matters. Science cannot tell you what to think about the answers, though it can try to tell you the reasons for the answers, limiting these reasons to scientific explanations. "

===========================

I've followed Ronald Bailey for decades and noticed a decline over the past few years, mainly in the ethical, non-science, freedom area. He is becoming more like Billy Nye and less like Martin Gardner--- he'll know exactly what I mean

[SRG2]

To sum up responses, basically, because the CDC fucked up on Covid, vaccines don't work and RFKjr is right

[Idaho-Bob]

"Fucked up Covid" is a gross understatement. Everything about Covid was lies, intended to control the population.
RFK Jr at least expresses skepticism. You guys just fall in line and believe anything and everything you're told by an agency known to take bribes, censor, and commit crimes against humanity.

[bye]

NO,just the opposite !!!
1) It is not the science though that is bad it's handing over political matters to doctors

2) The vaccines didn't work in the way Biden said and this is available with undeniable clarity in the British data. It was not a crisis of the unvaccinated. the vaccinated were dying
https://rumble.com/vz1z95-a-pandemic-of-deceit-not-the-unvaccinated.html

3) Rfk is right about what? you left that off thinking everyone will fill it in with their own favorite outrage and that is where you look the worst

The Most Objective Evidence Shows No Indication That Covid Vaccines Save More Lives Than They Take
By James D. Agresti
March 2, 2022

https://www.justfactsdaily.com/most-objective-evidence-covid-vaccines-lives?ss360SearchTerm=kennedy%20vaccines

[bobodoc]

You are correct. Not only is there no evidence that COVID vaccines saved more lives that they took, there is pretty good evidence that they caused more infections of COVID-19 and killed more people than they saved.

[SRG2]

I note the absence of peer-reviewed research in support of your lies.

[Truthteller1]

Today I learned that a "libertarian" publication really follows the science. Flatten the curve. Trust the experts.

[Truthteller1]

Bailey has a framed photo of Dear Leader Lord Fauci hanging above his bed.

[Bruce Hayden]

1. There was really no way to flatten the curve.
2. There was no reason to flatten the curve. The original reason was because of an expected shortage of ventilators. Turns out that ventilators killed patients, and that was known early on, by the time the COVID-19 vaccines were still in limited distribution.
3. Flattening the curve just increased the proportion of the population who eventually caught the virus.
4. The ModRNA vaccines actually hindered, if not prevented, development of natural immunities in those who were fully vaxed and boosted. These vaccines intentionally developed super immunities to specific spike proteins - which forced the virus to quickly mutate its spike proteins. That, in turn weakened the immune response to everything else, including to the rest of the virus. Towards the end, the only ones catching the virus time and time again (e.g. Biden and Fauci, at least 5-6 times each) were the fully vaxed and boosted.
5. And these ModRNA vaccines were never safe. The (intentional) runaway spike protein production killed cells all around the body. Too many in one place could be fatal (e.g. myocarditis and pericarditis for hearts). And focusing most of the body’s immune responses on fighting those 2 spike proteins meant that they weren’t available otherwise.

[MWAocdoc]

RFK Junior's ancestors were members of the "Know Nothing Party." He recapitulates and reincarnates that history as a founding member of the modern "No Brain Party."

[bye]

HOW colossally stupid you are....Know Nothings were virulently anti-Catholic and he is a Catholic.

You should sue your highschool , this is first week of History class

“As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”
― Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Letters

UTTERLY GODDAM IGNORANT , WOOOOOW!!!!

[SQRLSY]

AI says... (Perplexity)

Thimerosal in Vaccines: Safety Overview

What is Thimerosal?

Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that has been used since the 1930s in multi-dose vials of vaccines to prevent contamination by bacteria and fungi. It contains ethylmercury, which is different from methylmercury—the type of mercury found in some fish and known to be toxic at high levels

.

Why Was Thimerosal Used?

Thimerosal's primary role is to prevent the growth of potentially dangerous microbes in vaccines that are stored in multi-dose vials. This is crucial because contamination can occur each time a needle is inserted into a vial, and such contamination could cause severe illness or death

.

Current Use in Vaccines

Since 2001, thimerosal has been removed or reduced to trace amounts in all routine childhood vaccines in the United States, except for some multi-dose influenza (flu) vaccines

.

Most vaccines given to children and adults in the U.S. are now available in thimerosal-free formulations

.

For the 2024–2025 influenza season, about 96% of flu shots administered in the U.S. were thimerosal-free

.

Safety and Side Effects

Extensive scientific research and monitoring have found no evidence of harm from the low doses of thimerosal used in vaccines, except for minor local reactions such as redness and swelling at the injection site

.

Thimerosal is metabolized into ethylmercury, which is eliminated from the body faster than methylmercury and does not accumulate to harmful levels

.

Allergic reactions to thimerosal are rare, but possible

.

Thimerosal and Autism

Multiple large-scale studies and reviews by organizations such as the CDC, FDA, and the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) have found no credible evidence linking thimerosal in vaccines to autism or other serious neurodevelopmental disorders

.

Autism rates have continued to rise even after thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines, contradicting the idea of a causal link

.

Precautionary Measures

In 1999, U.S. public health agencies and vaccine manufacturers agreed to reduce or eliminate thimerosal in vaccines as a precaution, even though no evidence indicated harm at the levels used

.

Summary Table: Thimerosal in Vaccines
Aspect Details
Purpose Preservative to prevent bacterial/fungal contamination in multi-dose vials
Mercury Type Ethylmercury (not methylmercury)
Current Use Mostly removed from U.S. vaccines; remains in some multi-dose flu vaccines
Safety Evidence No evidence of harm at vaccine doses, except minor local reactions
Autism Link No credible scientific evidence of a link
Elimination from Body Ethylmercury is quickly eliminated, does not accumulate
Ongoing Surveillance Continual monitoring by CDC, FDA, and global health agencies
Key Takeaways

Thimerosal is a safe and effective preservative at the doses used in vaccines, with decades of use and extensive scientific review supporting its safety

.

It is no longer present in most U.S. vaccines, with the exception of some multi-dose flu vaccines, and thimerosal-free alternatives are widely available

.

There is no credible evidence linking thimerosal in vaccines to autism or other serious health issues

.

For individuals concerned about thimerosal, thimerosal-free versions of vaccines are available for all routine immunizations in the United States.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Repeal the national heath industrial complex.

[patiens]

Most panels are hand-picked

May 18, 2022 — Now, just three weeks after its announcement, the Disinformation Governance Board is being “paused,” according to multiple employees at DHS

Biden was Sooooo proud of this --- but 3 weeks 🙂