Misleading post suggests vaccinating babies involves injecting them with ‘neurotoxins’

A Facebook post misleadingly suggests that vaccinating young children involves injecting them with neurotoxins. 

The post contains an old image of a cynical-looking Justin Timberlake and a caption which reads: “When you're told not to give your baby honey under the age of 1, but are encouraged to inject them with known neurotoxins instead.” We have assumed this second part is a reference to childhood vaccines, or possibly to vitamin K.

Is honey bad for babies?

It is true that both the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the NHS recommend that parents not feed honey to infants under 12 months old. The NHS says this is because: “Occasionally, honey contains bacteria that can produce toxins in a baby's intestines, leading to infant botulism, which is a very serious illness.”

Infant botulism is extremely rare. According to a 2018 report by Public Health England, there have been only 19 cases between 1978 and January 2018. Not all the cases were linked to the consumption of honey. 

However, it is misleading to suggest that other injections routinely given to young children are more harmful than honey.

All vaccines undergo extensive safety testing before being authorised for use. Although some vaccines contain substances such as formaldehyde or aluminium, high exposure to which has been associated with damage to the nervous system, the levels present in vaccines are extremely low compared to the amounts that naturally occur within the body and therefore do not pose any additional risk. 

Harmless doses

According to the Vaccine Knowledge Project of the University of Oxford: “The human body produces and uses formaldehyde as part of the process of metabolism. The amount of natural formaldehyde in a 2-month-old infant’s blood (around 1.1 milligrams in total) is ten times greater than the amount found in any vaccine (less than 0.1 milligrams). A pear contains around 50 times more formaldehyde than is found in any vaccine.”

This is also the case with aluminium, which can be neurotoxic in high doses. It is one of the ingredients contained in the 6-in-1 vaccine which is recommended by the NHS for babies at 8, 12 and 16-weeks-old. It provides protection against diphtheria, hepatitis B, polio, hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b), tetanus and whooping cough.

Aluminium acts as an adjuvant in this vaccine, strengthening and lengthening the immune response. 

Aluminium is naturally present in food and drinking water but most of it is excreted and studies have shown it does not build up to unsafe levels. Another study conducted in 2018 measured aluminium levels in blood and hair samples of babies and found there was no correlation between the aluminium levels and how many vaccines they had received.

Mercury

Another ingredient in some vaccines which has been associated with neurotoxicity is thiomersal, a preservative which contains small amounts of mercury and is used to prevent the growth of bacteria or fungus in a vaccine. 

Despite the lack of evidence of any harm, thiomersal is no longer used in any of the vaccines routinely given to babies and young children in the NHS childhood immunisation programme and it was removed from childhood vaccines in the US in 2001. 

While high doses of mercury can be toxic to the brain and other organs, no harmful effects have been linked to the small amounts contained within the thiomersal previously used in vaccines.

Not all types of mercury are the same and thiomersal doesn't have the same chemical structure as the kind that can contaminate fish and build up in the body.

According to the NHS, while there have been concerns in the past that thiomersal-containing vaccines could cause autism, there is no scientific evidence that this is the case.

The World Health Organisation says: “It is important to note that concerns about the toxicity of thiomersal are theoretical and that there is no compelling scientific evidence of a safety problem related to its use in vaccines.”

We have written before about concerns over ingredients in vaccines for both adults and children including those used for Covid-19.

Vitamin K

It is also possible the post may be referring to injections of Vitamin K, which are offered to all newborns to prevent a rare bleeding disorder that can occur due to low levels of the vitamin at birth. 

However, these injections contain only the vitamin and a small amount of alcohol as a preservative, which is not enough to be dangerous. Vitamin K has not been linked to neurotoxicity and studies suggest it may have a protective effect on brain cells. 

Image courtesy of Taksh