Since we will never be able to fully insulate ourselves from what happens south of the border, we should take a moment to understand why Americans are talking about thimerosal and why we should fully ignore everything the current administration says about vaccines.

If you haven’t been paying attention, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy. Kennedy replaced them with eight individuals more closely aligned with his anti-vaccine philosophy. (One has since stepped down.) Many rose to prominence during the pandemic for views that were critical of the COVID response, and Kennedy mentioned some of them by name in his 2021 book attacking Anthony Fauci. As a group, they do not have much experience with vaccines, pediatrics or health policy. The first meeting of the freshly minted ACIP was held last week, to discuss a long-standing bugbear in anti-vaccine circles: the preservative thimerosal.

The meeting was problematic for several reasons. Normally, CDC staff make a formal........

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