Anti-thimerosal laws vex flu shot planners

Physicians say this state legislative trend could make planning for next season trickier and obtaining already unstable supplies more difficult.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. April 24, 2006.

Physicians in states that have passed legislation banning vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal are complaining that these laws could undermine the already challenging flu shot process.

"The distribution system right now is broken," said Robert W. Steele, MD, a pediatrician at St. John's Children's Hospital in Springfield, Mo. "This makes it that much more difficult." Missouri's law, which bans such vaccines for children younger than 3 and for pregnant women, goes into effect in April 2007.

Six more states have enacted similar measures. California, New York and Washington also target vaccines for these two groups while Iowa and Delaware set the age limit at 8 years. Illinois' measure mandates a total ban. At least 18 more states and Congress have related proposals on their legislative agendas.

At first glance, the trend seems innocuous.

Several medical groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service, have even called for the eventual phase-out of the vaccine preservative. This position was driven by widespread fears -- never substantiated by research -- that thimerosal might have a causal link to neurological problems such as autism, coupled with concerns that these anxieties would reduce the chance that parents would have their children vaccinated.

While studies regarding any such connection continue, the debate surrounding the thimerosal issue is becoming more heated and controversial, with both sides claiming the scientific high ground.