Vaccine Ingredients

Vaccine Ingredients

Vaccines are highly reliable biological products. They undergo very strict controls during production and distribution. All vaccines used in our country are licensed by globally recognized authorities such as the World Health Organization, EMA, FDA or TİTCK, and are produced in accordance with GMP (Good Manufacturing Procedures) rules recommended and approved by the World Health Organization. Detailed analyses and tests are carried out for each batch produced by both the manufacturer and the official authorities of the country of production. The harmlessness and efficacy analyses and conformity tests of the purchased vaccines and anti-serums are carried out by the Pharmaceutical Biological and Medical Products Laboratory, the national reference laboratory under the control of the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency within our Ministry of Health, with experienced personnel and advanced devices. Vaccines that do not pass the analysis are returned and vaccines from another series are requested instead.

Vaccines are protected at the appropriate temperature range within the cold chain system in all health institutions until they are received from the manufacturer and administered to the person to be vaccinated, and the system is continuously monitored by ATS.

Vaccines contain substances called antigens, which promote the development of immunity, and in very small amounts, substances that play a role in the production, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. In addition to antigens, vaccines also contain adjuvants, stabilizers and preservatives. The vaccines supplied and used by the Ministry do not contain any pork products.

Adjuvants are substances used alongside the bacterial and viral components of vaccines to increase their effectiveness. Stabilizers are substances added to vaccine vials to maintain the stability of vaccines until they are administered. In addition, additional substances called preservatives are added to vaccine vials to prevent microbiological contamination. In general, our vaccines contain Aluminum Hydroxide as adjuvant, Thiomersal as preservative, antibiotics (Neomycin), kanamycin, erythromycin and Magnesium Chloride as stabilizer.

Aluminum Hydroxide is used as an adjuvant to make vaccines more effective at a very low dose, and the total amount of aluminum in all the vaccines we administer to a person throughout his/her life is 4.25 mg. It is at a very low level as determined by the WHO and not harmful to human health. It is present in some of the vaccines we administer, such as Td, 5-mixed, 4-mixed, KPA. Aluminum is abundant in drinking water, ready-to-drink water, flour and flour products, medicines, especially stomach medicines (20-30 mg), fruits and vegetables.

Thiomersal is an organic compound of Ethyl Mercury and has been used as a preservative in many vaccines and medicines since the 1930s.

In the report published by the General Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) of the World Health Organization on June 20-21, 2002, it was stated that the half-life of Ethyl Mercury (Thiomersal) in the body is less than a week and that it is excreted from the body through the digestive system in an average of 4-9 days; therefore, it is not possible for it to accumulate in the body like other mercury compounds and cause some chronic diseases related to mercury. Methyl Mercury, which is difficult to excrete from the body, is not present in Thiomersal.

Many scientific studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between the use of Thiomersal-containing vaccines and the alleged increase in a number of chronic diseases, especially Autism. As a result of these studies, no relationship was found between Thiomersal and autism.

In the light of detailed investigations by the WHO General Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), a March 2004 study by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) Committee for Patented Medicinal Products (CPMP) reported no association between immunization with Thiomersal-containing vaccines and specific neurological developmental disorders.

The 2004 report of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the American Independent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) concluded that there was no link between autism and measles vaccines or vaccines containing thiomersal as a preservative and that it was purely coincidental, and Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), once again stated in an interview on NBC television on August 7, 2005 that there was no link between thiomersal and autism. Thiomersal continues to be used as a preservative in vaccines in Europe and many other countries.

The WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) has also declared that the measles vaccine is not associated with SSPE and autism. The article published in the Lancette on this issue was removed and the author was banned from the profession.

Several studies over many years have found no proven side effects associated with the use of Thiomersal in vaccine doses. Thiomersal is usually found in multi-dose vaccines and not in single-dose vaccines.