State Temporarily Suspends Mercury-Free Vaccine Law
[Posted 11/09/06]

California’s Health and Human Services Agency (HHS) last week announced it would temporarily suspend a new state law that bans the use of mercury-containing vaccines for small children, citing a vaccine shortage caused by production delays. Exemptions to the ban are allowed in the event of potential public health emergencies, including an epidemic or vaccine supply shortage.

Only Sanofi Pasteur manufactures a vaccine that complies with California’s new law, which took effect July 1 and bans the use of mercury-containing vaccines for children younger than 3 years old. Most multidose vials of flu vaccine are made with thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative.

Because of delays in vaccine production, many pediatricians have only received partial orders of the mercury-free flu shots and have had to turn away parents seeking flu vaccine for their small children.

The suspension was issued at the request of CMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the California Academy of Family Physicians, and Kaiser Permanente. HHS secretary Kim Belshe agreed to waive the ban for six weeks because the health threat from flu outweighs the worries about mercury-containing vaccines.

Contact: Sandra Bressler, 415/882-5171 or sbressler@cmanet.org.