Aluminum in Vaccines: What Parents Need to Know

Aluminum can be found everywhere. It’s in air, soil, and water. It’s also in food, personal products (like makeup and deodorant), and vaccines.Some parents are concerned about the aluminum in vaccines. Your child’s doctor wants you to know that aluminum in vaccines is safe. Here are answers from the American Academy of Pediatrics to questions parents often ask about aluminum in vaccines.Vaccines contain aluminum in the form of a salt. It is added to some vaccines to improve immune responses. This has been safely done for nearly 100 years.When something is added to a vaccine to improve immune responses it is called an adjuvant. When adjuvants are used, the amount of vaccine ingredients in each dose can be less, and fewer vaccine doses are needed.Most aluminum in a child’s body is from food, not vaccines. For example, in the first 2 years of life, when children receive the most vaccines, the amount of aluminum from food can be up to 4 times more than that from vaccines. And in the first 18 years of life, the amount of aluminum children could have in their blood from food is 10-50 times more than aluminum from all the childhood vaccines they received.Combination vaccines can further decrease the amount of aluminum an infant gets from vaccines during the first 2 years of life.Studies from the past 20 years have not found any link between the aluminum in vaccines and conditions like autism, autoimmune conditions, or asthma. While there are some rare conditions where aluminum can harm health, the amount of aluminum in vaccines is not large enough over a long enough time to cause disease.When aluminum does cause health problems, they only occur in people whose kidneys do not work properly and who are exposed to large amounts of aluminum over months or years. These health problems are not related to autism, autoimmune conditions, or asthma.Visit www.HealthyChildren.org for more information.The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety, and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.