Traditional vaccines contain metals, but they are not harmful to health

In a video circulating on WhatsApp, an unidentified person claims that traditional vaccines are “heavily contaminated” with metals, implying that they are harmful to health. This is a MISLEADING statement. Indeed, most of the most commonly used vaccines, against flu or tetanus contain aluminium salts, a type of metal that promotes the body’s immunological response. The amount included in the formula, however, does not exceed the limits considered safe by the health authorities.

"Vaccines are heavily contaminated with a variety of nanoparticles. Many of the particles are metals. We are talking about traditional vaccines like HPV, influenza, swine flu, hepatitis B, triple viral vaccine, DPT vaccines, tetanus"

The person narrating the video claims that traditional vaccines like the triple viral, influenza, hepatitis B, or human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are made with metal nanoparticles. It is true that many of these vaccines contain aluminium salts as adjuvants to stimulate the immune reaction against a virus. “These salts of aluminium have been used as adjuvant for more than 70 years in a safe manner”, highlights Adelaida Sarukhan, an immunologist and science writer at the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal, in Catalan). But “the amount present in a vaccine is well below the limit set by the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration)", that is, 25 micrograms/day, "and well below the amounts of aluminium that we ingest or inhale every day", bearing in mind that "aluminium is one of the most common metals in nature", says the scientist.

Sarukhna recalls that the other metal frequently used as a preservative in some vaccines was thimerosal, also known as ethylmercury. “Unlike methylmercury, which accumulates in water and fish and is toxic, ethylmercury is rapidly eliminated from the organism. Since 2001, the only vaccine for which it is still used in very small quantities is influenza," she says.

A source without scientific basis

The author of the recording cites the couple of italian scientists Stefano Montanari and Antonietta Gatti as the source of his information and his book published in 2015 “Practical cases of nanotoxicology and particles toxicology”. Montanari has published research about the presence of metal and other inorganic materials nanoparticles in the central nervous system, in blood, or in some foods. It is true that our bodies can accumulate metal pollutants from the food we eat or from exposure to them. These metals, such as arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium, are found in soil, water and air. High amounts of these metals in the body can be dangerous.

Montanari is known for defending theories related to covid-19 lacking from scientific basis, as we have already explained.