The vast majority of research has failed to show any link between thimerosal and autism or other neurological issues.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., delivered a victory for vaccine skeptics in the Make America Healthy Again movement by voting to recommend the removal of influenza vaccines with trace amounts of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

The overhauled US panel reviewing vaccine data backed the use of only thimerosal-free flu shots for Americans, taking aim at an ingredient that’s long been considered safe by scientists but erroneously linked with autism.