Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. this week signed a recommendation to remove thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, from flu vaccine shots, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted last month to recommend that flu shots not contain thimerosal, which is used to prevent fungi and bacteria from growing in multi dose vaccine vials. The recommendation was the first issued by the panel after Kennedy replaced all of its previous members.

"Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility," Kennedy said in a statement.

The Journal notes that thimerosal hasn't been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, when it was removed from most vaccines out of an abundance of caution. The Food and Drug Administration reports that three flu vaccines for adults currently use thimerosal.

The Centers for Disease Control, an agency overseen by HHS, says on its website that "a robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines." 

It adds that concerns about thimerosal being linked to autism are not supported by data, since "even after thimerosal was removed from almost all childhood vaccines, autism rates continued to increase, which is the opposite of what would be expected if thimerosal caused autism."

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