The CDC has just published a seismic study (Donahue et al. 2017 Vaccine 35:5314) linking spontaneous abortions in women to flu vaccines.  The study reviewed data for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 flu seasons.  Women vaccinated with the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) in the 2010-2011 season were 3.7 times more likely to experience a spontaneous abortion within 28 days than women not receiving the vaccine.  Over the entire study period (2010 to 2012), the odds for a spontaneous abortion for vaccinated women were 2.0 times greater than for those women not receiving the flu vaccine.  Both figures showed a statistically significant increase in miscarriages when women received their flu shot.  Most alarmingly, in women who received the H1N1 vaccine in the previous flu season, the odds of spontaneous abortion in the 28 days after receiving a flu vaccine was 7.7 times greater.

The vast majority of these flu vaccines were multi-dose formulations, containing 25 micrograms of mercury via the preservative thimerosal.  In those years, out of approximately 150 million flu shots given in the U.S. annually, less than 50 million or 34% of those vaccines available for pregnant women were thimerosal-free.

For many years, health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid eating mercury-containing tuna. And, even before this latest study, some government scientists were questioning the wisdom of pressuring women to receive mercury-laden flu shots in any trimester of pregnancy.  National Toxicology Program Deputy Director, Dr. George Lucier, said “The developing fetus should NEVER be exposed to any amount of mercury, period!”  In the words of senior CDC epidemiologist, Dr. William Thompson, “So I don’t know why they still give it [the flu shot] to pregnant women, like that’s the last person I would give mercury to.”

CDC officially claims that thimerosal is the “safe” mercury because it is purportedly excreted quickly from the body.  CDC bases this claim solely on its misinterpretation of data from a poorly designed study conducted in the early 2000s by an industry insider, Dr. Michael Pichichero. Subsequent studies have proven that the ethylmercury in thimerosal is actually far more persistent in organs than the methylmercury in fish (Burbacher et al. 2005 Environ Health Perspect. 113:1015) (Rodrigues et al. Arch Toxicol. 2010 84:891).  In flu shot package inserts, vaccine manufacturers acknowledge that flu vaccines have never been shown to be safe for pregnant women. In fact, overwhelming science shows clearly that this preservative is neurotoxic and deadly and that it may be particularly dangerous to the fetus during pregnancy.  When given to pregnant women, mercury transports specifically to the placenta and into the fetus, which does not have any mechanism for detoxification (Ablesohn et al. 2011 Canadian Family Physician 57:26).  In fact, it has been shown that mercury levels in cord blood are on average 70% higher than those in maternal blood (Stern et al. 2003 Environ Health Perspect. 111:1465).