The United States will stop distributing all influenza vaccines that contain mercury-based preservative thimerosal, marking the latest move by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reshape vaccine policy.

CDC panel, reshaped by RFK Jr., rejects thimerosal flu shots and backs RSV drug amid resignations, expert criticism and procedural concerns.

The federal government is recommending flu vaccines remove the preservative thimerosal after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday officially adopted the recommendation of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel.

The CDC says there is no evidence of harm from mercury-based thimerosal.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation that the U.S. population only receive influenza vaccines without the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

The decision follows last month’s vote of the CDC’s revamped vaccine advisory committee. Thimerosal, mostly removed from vaccines decades ago, has long been a target of anti-vaccine advocates for unfounded links to autism and adverse health outcomes.

The CDC declared the end of its emergency response to H5N1 avian flu as a health threat to humans, David Murray writes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended its emergency response to the H5N1 bird flu and said Monday it will streamline future updates on the virus with routine reports on seasonal influenza.