Aluminum salts have been used as adjuvants in non-live vaccines since 1926. Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, questioned whether these adjuvants are causing chronic diseases. To answer this question, a group of researchers in Denmark assessed the relationship between the cumulative exposure of aluminum in vaccines and autoimmune, allergic, and neurodevelopmental disorders (Andersson NW, et al. Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Jul 15. DOI 10.7326/ANNALS-25-00997). Using a nationwide registry, the researchers studied 1,224,176 children who had received different quantities of aluminum in vaccines between 1997 and 2020.
The authors found that the cumulative exposure to aluminum in the first two years of life did not correlate with increased rates of 50 different disorders, including autism and asthma. They concluded, “This nationwide cohort study did not find evidence supporting an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines.”
This is the largest, best-controlled study to date of aluminum adjuvants in children and should go a long way to calming fears about the use of these adjuvants.
Contributed by: Paul A. Offit, MD
Aluminum salts have been used as adjuvants in non-live vaccines since 1926. Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, questioned whether these adjuvants are causing chronic diseases. To answer this question, a group of researchers in Denmark assessed the relationship between the cumulative exposure of aluminum in vaccines and autoimmune, allergic, and neurodevelopmental disorders (Andersson NW, et al. Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Jul 15. DOI 10.7326/ANNALS-25-00997). Using a nationwide registry, the researchers studied 1,224,176 children who had received different quantities of aluminum in vaccines between 1997 and 2020.
The authors found that the cumulative exposure to aluminum in the first two years of life did not correlate with increased rates of 50 different disorders, including autism and asthma. They concluded, “This nationwide cohort study did not find evidence supporting an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines.”
This is the largest, best-controlled study to date of aluminum adjuvants in children and should go a long way to calming fears about the use of these adjuvants.
Contributed by: Paul A. Offit, MD