They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but when it comes to aluminium in vaccines, the numbers tell a much stronger story. A massive 24-year study from Denmark, tracking more than 1.2 million children, has just delivered powerful reassurance by debunking the danger of aluminium in vaccines.
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The use of aluminium salts in vaccines has long been a topic of debate. However, a nationwide cohort study conducted in Denmark, which investigated the potential link between cumulative aluminium exposure from early childhood vaccinations and the development of autoimmune, atopic or allergic, and neurodevelopmental disorders, revealed striking results.
The research found no evidence that aluminium in vaccines increases the risk of developing childhood conditions such as asthma, autism, or a host of other autoimmune and neurodevelopmental disorders.
The message is clear – aluminium used to make vaccines more effective does not make them more dangerous.
Not one of the 50 conditions examined, including a broad range of autoimmune, allergic, and neurodevelopmental disorders, occurred at statistically higher rates than expected, effectively ruling out any moderate or significant risk linked to aluminium exposure in vaccines. Senior author Anders Hviid called the findings “quite striking,” reinforcing the study’s strong message that aluminium in vaccines does not pose a measurable threat to children’s health.
“We can exclude meaningful increases with a large degree of certainty for many of these outcomes. We should not be concerned about aluminium used as an adjuvant in childhood vaccines. I think that’s the core message,” said Hviid, who heads the department of epidemiology research at the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency.
Aluminium salts are added to certain childhood vaccines to enhance the body’s immune response. They’re commonly used in inactivated vaccines, those made from killed viruses or bacteria, and in protein-based vaccines. In contrast, vaccines that use live but weakened viruses, like the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, and mRNA vaccines, such as several COVID-19 vaccines, do not contain aluminium.
Used safely for over 70 years, aluminium salts have a well-established track record of both safety and effectiveness. Still, they’ve come under scrutiny from vaccine opponents, who claim they might overstimulate the immune system. However, scientific evidence shows that the amount of aluminium children receive through vaccines remains far below established safety thresholds.
Daley and his colleagues launched their study in response to a 2013 vaccine safety report from the Institute of Medicine, now known as the National Academy of Medicine, which called for further investigation into a possible link between aluminium in vaccines and the development of asthma. When their findings were published in Academic Pediatrics in 2023, it prompted Hviid and his team in Denmark to take a closer look, leading to their large-scale nationwide study.