Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which vaccines prescribed by the NHS contain thimerosal.

None of the vaccines currently recommended for use as part of the United Kingdom routine immunisation programme contains the preservative thiomersal.

The safety of thiomersal-containing vaccines has been extensively evaluated in studies which have found no evidence to suggest thiomersal is associated with any serious or long-term risks. Such studies have mostly been in young children. The most recent assessment in the Weekly epidemiological record was undertaken by the World Health Organization in 2012, which advised that the available evidence strongly supports the safety of the use of thiomersal in vaccines where required. A copy of the 2012 Weekly epidemiological record is attached.