State’s flu shots have mercury options

Thimerosal-free versions available to both children and adults

Although a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests the flu shot’s tiny dose of mercury is harmless to a child’s neurologic development, parents who don’t want to take the risk don’t have to in New Mexico.

The Department of Health ordered about 170,000 doses of flu vaccine this year, of which 97,440 doses are formulated without thimerosal, the preservative that contains mercury. The mercury-free version is available to both adults and children.

All the flu vaccine ordered for children 6 to 35 months of age is mercury-free, said department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer. In addition, the state purchased 17,450 mercury-free doses for children ages 3 to 18, and 20,000 mercury-free doses for adults 18 and older.

Separate from what the state offers, some clinics also provide another mercury-free alternative: FluMist, which is administered as a nasal spray and is made from the killed influenza virus. Only approved for use with healthy people 2 to 49 years of age, FluMist is not safe for pregnant women, children who are on long-term aspirin use, people with asthma or other lung diseases, people with chronic heart disease, people with diabetes or kidney failure, or people with a weakened immune system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state Department of Health’s first shipment of flu vaccine has arrived, but check with your doctor’s office or public health office before making the trip. The Santa Fe County public health office, for instance, hasn’t received its first batch yet and probably won’t until the end of next week, the receptionist said. La Familia Medical Center has its supply, however.

So far, 13,000 adult flu shots have been sent to public health offices and public nursing homes. Another 25,000 flu shots for children were sent to private doctor offices and public health offices.

Many stores order their own supply of vaccine and are advertising flu clinics in the Santa Fe area. Brian McDaid, an acupuncturist on staff at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, said the shop contracts with a group to provide shots on site. When customers preschedule shots this month, they can specify mercury-free vaccine if they prefer it, McDaid said.

Flu season often doesn’t blow in until December. But for people who are prone to developing flu complications, such as pneumonia, October is the right time to schedule a flu shot, according to the Health Department and the New Mexico Influenza Vaccine Consortium. Public health offices provide free flu shots to people who are considered high risk, health-care workers and people without health insurance.

“We are the safety net for people in New Mexico who can’t get their flu shot anywhere else,” Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said in a statement. “We encourage people who are at the greatest risk for developing flu complications to protect themselves by getting their flu shot.”

People in this category include: the elderly, children and adults with chronic health conditions, children between 6 months and 5 years of age, pregnant women, caregivers and health-care workers. Pneumonia shots are recommended for people 65 and older.

From the 1930s until 2001, children were exposed to mercury through a variety of routine vaccines. Though no proof of harm was established, health agencies and vaccine manufacturers decided to eliminate thimerosal from 12 vaccines used to protect preschool children against infectious diseases.

Today, flu shots are the only remaining vaccine for children that contain the preservative.

Meanwhile, thousands of American families with claims against the federal government say vaccines are to blame for their children’s autism spectrum disorders. The CDC is studying whether such a link has a scientific basis.

Dr. Cate McClain, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and director of The University of New Mexico’s autism center, stresses the importance of regular immunizations with her patients.

“What I tell them is that at this point, several studies have been done and (researchers) have not been able to make that association between thimerosal and autism,” she said.

Since the preservative has been dropped from most vaccines, childhood autism rates have not declined. “If anything, we’re seeing more kids (with autism), not fewer kids,” McClain said. “It supports my belief that it’s not related.”

The CDC’s other study, which was published in the Sept. 27 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, involved 1,047 children, ages 7 to 10, who were given neuropsychological tests but not evaluated specifically for autism. The conclusion: early thimerosal exposure didn’t cause deficits in IQ, memory, manual dexterity or speech.

Participants had been exposed to mercury from a variety of vaccines, including flu shots, during the first seven months of life and some while their mothers were pregnant. Other than boys who had tics — repetitive movements or sounds — and children with poor speech articulation, no patterns emerged in the study. In several cases, thimerosal seemed to have a beneficial effect on performance.

While some physicians say the findings are reassuring, others, such as Santa Fe’s Dr. Kenneth Stoller, are skeptical because of limitations in the study.

For information about flu-shot clinics, call Nurse Advice New Mexico at 866-681-5872.

Contact Diana Del Mauro at 986-3066 or dianadm@sfnewmexican.com.