California Officials Increase Mercury-laced Vaccines for Children and Pregnant Women

In California in 2004, AB 2943 was introduced by the California Assembly and passed, going into effect in 2006. Considered a precautionary measure, it prohibited injections to children under three and pregnant women with vaccines containing 0.5 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 milliliter of vaccine dose in multiple vaccine packages such as the MMR and DTaP three in one vaccines. The California Immunization Coalition (CIC), a quasi-public agency, sent a letter to the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services requesting the exemption be exercised for this flu season because there is a shortage of flu vaccines, especially the nasal mist vaccine Fluzone, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. Concerned California activists allegedly reached Sanofi by phone twice recently and were told there is no shortage of the Fluzone vaccine that complies completely with California's AB 2943. So why the rush to use flu vaccines with high levels of thimerosal?