(WHAS11) - The Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics have for years recommended that thimerosal be removed from all childhood vaccines "as soon as possible." Yet, the mercury-based preservative is still used in most seasonal and H1N1 vaccines.
So, what's worse, the risk of the vaccine or the risk of influenza?
David Riggle of Louisville is back on his feet after the Swine Flu knocked him for a loop last week.
“I think the thing that hit me fastest was the pain,” Riggle said, “I was really sore. Everything in my body ached.”
Before he got H1N1, Riggle had never even considered getting either a swine flu or a seasonal flu shot.
Even after several miserable days, he says he would make the same decision again.
“Knowing what I know about the vaccine, the preservatives in the vaccine, I think it would just absolutely defy human logic to take the vaccine for me.”
David and Emlyn Riggle believe that thimerosal, a mercury based preservative now being phased out of use in many vaccines, is what triggered autism in their 9-year-old son Evan. They say home video of Evan when he was 1-year-old shows a marked and disturbing change after he got his Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccinations.
The Centers for Disease Control and much of the medical community say studies debunk the suggested link between thimerosal and autism. Yet, several states have banned thimerosal in vaccines, even in flu vaccines. While the nasal flu mist version of flu vaccines does not contain thimerosal, the innoculations do.
The public health concern is that warnings from people like the Riggles will discourage vaccinations and make the spread of the swine flu and other preventable diseases even worse.
“I understand that medicine is trying to use the flu vaccinations to address a short term problem of a season of flu,” said Emlyn Riggle, “But I am really concerned about the long term ramifications of treating a short term problem with a neurotoxin that's going to have much greater potential risk over the long haul for everyone in the public.
With parental consent, Jefferson County Public Schools plans a mass vaccination of students next month.
The Riggles say they are not discouraging anyone from getting vaccinated, but they are encouraging everyone to make an informed decision.
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