Citing cost concerns and a potential
shortfall for the upcoming flu season, the Illinois Department of
Public Health filed for a 12-month exemption to the Mercury-Free
Vaccine Act, passed last summer to limit the use of vaccines
containing mercury. However, child-health-care advocates who
lobbied for the bill’s passage are upset by what they believe
was a premeditated attempt by IDPH to circumvent state law. After it sailed through both chambers of the
state Legislature with just one no vote, Gov. Rod Blagojevich
signed the legislation, introduced as House Bill 511 by Rep. Kurt
Granberg, D-Centralia, in August. The law bans the use of vaccines
formulated with more than 1.25 micrograms of the preservative
thimerosal, which contains small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin.
Some studies have linked thimerosal to autism in children [see
Michleen Collins, “Mercury falling,” Feb. 24, 2005]. The exemption affects diphtheria and tetanus
vaccines DT, Td, and TT, as well as vaccines against Meningococcus and
Japanese encephalitis and the 2005/2006 formula for influenza
vaccination. Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for IDPH,
acknowledges that the agency decided to prepare an exemption in
June — before the bill was signed into law — in case of
an emergency such as an outbreak or vaccine shortage or if the
measure proved cost-prohibitive to the state. To supply the state with enough mercury-free
vaccine, Arnold says, the world’s three flu-vaccine
manufacturers would have to completely overhaul their manufacturing
processes. Furthermore, IDPH plans to file exemptions every year until enough mercury-free
product is available at a reasonable price, Arnold says. However, Springfield radiologist David Ayoub
notes that mercury-free vaccine costs only about $2 more per dose.
Compare that, he says, with a family’s average cost per year
to care for a child with autism — $60,000 to $80,000, to say
nothing of the amount the state will spend on special education
— and it’s a no-brainer, he claims. Laura Cellini, mother of an autistic child,
has lobbied to ensure the passage of the mercury-free-vaccine law.
She says that the additional cost could even be passed on to
parents. Most, she argues, would be willing to pay $2 more per
shot. “Instead of working on an exemption, I
wish they’d worked to secure more mercury-free
vaccine,” Cellini says. Ayoub also rejects IDPH’s assertion
that there could be a vaccine shortage, saying that more than
enough mercury-free pediatric vaccine exists for the remainder of
this year’s flu season. Last year’s extra doses, he
says, had to be destroyed. IDPH’s Arnold agrees, telling Illinois Times that
the exemption filed on Jan. 1 only applies to adult vaccine doses.
“That’s flat wrong,” says
state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, one of the bill’s
sponsors. Harmon says that he must check to see whether the
Legislature has the power to override the IDPH exemption, but if it
does, he says, the issue could be raised again during the current
shortened legislative session. Although Arnold says that mercury-free
vaccine is the preferred alternative, IDPH doesn’t believe
that any correlation exists between thimerasol and autism. “Science doesn’t support the
urgency of a mercury-free vaccine,” Arnold says. However, Cellini notes that when
thimerosal-laden vaccines are discarded, they must be handled as
toxic waste. According to a Merck & Co. material data safety
sheet on thimerosal, the substance is “very toxic,”
particularly to aquatic environments and organisms. “Mercury everywhere else on the planet
is toxic, but they think when it’s put in a lifesaving drug,
the discussion becomes about vaccines,” Cellini says. She adds: “We’re not anti-vaccine
— we just want a safer vaccine.”
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2006.
