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Aluminum in Vaccines

Is This Something to Worry About?

By Lisa A. Goldstein

One of the many difficult things about being a new parent is entering new territory. Take vaccines, for instance – a controversial topic rife with myths and misconceptions. Navigating this minefield can be overwhelming. One new parent, Christine Anthony from Evanston, Ill., for example, has people telling her to not give her daughter more than two shots at a time because of aluminum. Is there any basis to this claim?

"This is a new one for me," says Dr. Carol Steltenkamp, associate professor of pediatrics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Pediatrician at Kentucky Children's Hospital. "I imagine that this comes from the fact that the immunizations no longer have thimerisol (mercury), but rather contain aluminum as an adjuvant."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunizations, adjuvants are chemicals added to vaccines to make them provide stronger immunity. Various forms of aluminum salts are the most commonly used adjuvants in vaccines.

Dr. Janet O'Mahony, internist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., says that aluminum isn't really felt to be a health risk, except perhaps relating to Alzheimer's disease. Patients with Alzheimer's have high levels of aluminum in the brain, but it's not known if there's a correlation with overall exposure to aluminum. The major source of aluminum exposure, in fact, is actually from antiperspirant use and cookware.

"The tiny bit used in vaccines would be long gone by the time most people are at risk of Alzheimer's (in their 70s and 80s)," Dr. O'Mahony says. "Only about half of the normal childhood vaccines apparently use aluminum."

Aluminum isn't considered toxic, Dr. O'Mahony says. "It's the same substance in Maalox or Mylanta used to treat heartburn and the amount in the injection is quite small," she says.

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