Mercury to be banned from baby vaccines
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
Mercury will be banned from vaccines given to babies, the Department of Health said last night amid fears of links between the metal and autism.
Mercury will be banned from vaccines given to babies, the Department of Health said last night amid fears of links between the metal and autism.
Doctors nationwide are being contacted over changes to the infant vaccine programme for eight-week-old children. They are also being told to switch from a live polio vaccine taken orally to an injection to avoid rare cases of contamination. The inoculations will be replaced by a five-in-one jab at two months of age.
The changes are expected to take place next month. The new inoculation will combat diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hib and polio.
The whooping cough vaccine had contained a form of mercury called thiomersal.
John Hutton, a health minister, said: "I can confirm that later this year we will be introducing a new form of childhood vaccination for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hib and polio."
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
