The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers have endorsed influenza vaccinations for just about every American — but only if they are free of thiomersal, the ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely linked to autism.

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr recently fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, with several replaced by vaccine sceptics, including Professor Robert Malone, a physician who once said that COVID-19 vaccines caused “a form of AIDS”.

Yesterday, the new panel discussed the safety of thiomersal — a preservative used in less than 5% of US flu vaccinations — following a presentation by the former leader of an antivaccine group, without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thiomersal has long been used for vaccines in multi-dose vials to prevent contamination as each dose is withdrawn, but as an organomercury compound, it has long been the focus of anti-vaxxers.