Research, published on July 15 Annals of internal medicineFollowed more than a million Danish children over a period of 24 years and found no evidence that vaccines containing aluminum increased the risk of allergic, autoimmunes or neurodevelopmental disorders.
“This is the largest and most complete study to date of the safety of aluminum adjuvant infantile vaccines,” explains the co-author of the study Anders HVIID, doctor of medical sciences, professor and chief of the Epidemiology Department of Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Danmark.
“We expect it to be a historical study on the safety of aluminum adjuvant infant vaccines,” he adds.
Why do some vaccines contain aluminum?
“Some vaccines will not be sufficiently effective unless you receive an adjuvant that improves the immune response,” explains Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which was not involved in the study.
These vaccines were all approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after having undergone a rigorous evaluation for safety and efficiency.
However, Dr. Hvid says that he is “understandable that parents can be worried about the safety of vaccines with the many fear -based stories that circulate today”.
He says he hopes that the new study would contribute to “solid scientific evidence” to help parents make the best health decisions for their children.
The study found “no association” between aluminum in vaccines and chronic health problems
The new study wanted to assess the connection, if necessary, between the cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccinations before the age of 2 and the child’s subsequent risk of autoimmune, atopic, allergic and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Researchers started with data from a national register on infant vaccinations in Denmark. The study included more than 1.2 million children born between 1997 and 2018, which were divided around 50-50 between boys and girls.
The register followed children aged 2 to 5, or until they are no longer available for follow -up. Data included information on vaccines received before the age of 2 and any subsequent health diagnosis.
Only 1.2% of children received no vaccine containing aluminum before the age of 2.
Since the recommendations and availability of vaccines varied throughout the study period, researchers were able to compare the health results of children who received various quantities of aluminum exposure from vaccines.
For children in the study, the aluminum content per dose of vaccine varied from 0.125 to 1 mg of aluminum. Total aluminum exposure linked to the vaccine was 3 mg on average at the age of 2.
During follow -up, the researchers searched 50 undesirable effects related to the vaccine, in particular:
Their analysis did not find any association between the cumulative aluminum exposure via vaccines and the development of one of the chronic conditions, or any increased risk for these conditions.
“For many of the results, our results are quite precise, and we can even exclude low risk increases with certainty,” explains HVIID.
Offer – One of the inventors of the Rotavirus vaccine and an internationally recognized expert in virology and immunology – calls it a “superb study” which offers “reassuring” evidence that vaccines with aluminum are safe.
What are the limits of this study?
The study was observational, which means that there was no randomized placebo control group, the gold standard of clinical trials. “It is not possible ethically or logistical to conduct clinical trials to assess these associations,” explains HVIID.
It would not be ethical to give certain children real vaccines and give ineffective dummy vaccines to others. Instead, “we have to count on high -quality observational research such as our study,” explains HVIID.
While the researchers took into account the socio -economic status, Hviid says that they could not “exclude small differences in the comparison groups that we could not control”.
The study has only examined 50 specific health problems, he says, which means that the results do not exclude possible links on other conditions.
The results reiterate aluminum safety in vaccines
Aluminum adjuvant vaccines are “the backbone of immunization programs around the world,” says HVIID, and there is no replacement. Do not administer these vaccines would lead to death and large -scale diseases.
“A large part of disinformation on infant vaccines tends to turn around the ingredients of vaccines,” he says, and aluminum in vaccines is in “tiny doses” and is not comparable to aluminum in metallic form.
Offer adds that, every day, people are exposed to aluminum, which is the third most abundant element on earth. He says he hopes that the new study will help dispel many of the myths surrounding aluminum in vaccines.
HVIID hopes that “our study and its message will have a wide range. The more parents, clinicians and political decision -makers are these reassuring results, the better. ”
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