Many vaccines have tiny amounts of inorganic matter, investigation finds

A wide sample of vaccines contained microscopic amounts of non-biodegradable inorganic matter such as lead, stainless steel, and iron, researchers have found. The quality control investigation, published in the International Journal of Vaccines and Vaccination,1 examined 44 vaccines produced by several manufacturers in France and Italy.

The authors, from the National Council of Research of Italy, said that the contamination was probably unintentional and caused by polluted components or procedures in industrial processes. However, they warned that, because these inorganic particles cannot be degraded, they could induce an inflammatory reaction either at the injection site or elsewhere in the body, adding that the impact of these foreign bodies could be particularly serious in small children.

The researchers looked for the presence of solid contaminants using an environmental scanning electron microscope equipped with an x ray microprobe. Micro, sub-micro, and nano size inorganic foreign bodies ranging from 100 nanometres to about 10 microns were found in all vaccines studied.

Saline is the fluid base to any vaccine preparation, so the researchers had expected to identify sodium chloride, as well as aluminium salts or aluminium hydroxide, which is usually added as an adjuvant. In addition, however, they found a number of other particles including lead, stainless steel, copper, zinc, tungsten, chromium, iron, strontium, magnesium, and titanium.

The authors said, “The quantity of foreign bodies detected and, in some cases, their unusual chemical compositions baffled us. The inorganic particles identified are neither biocompatible nor biodegradable—that means they are biopersistant and can induce effects that can become evidence either immediately close to injection time or after a certain time from administration.”

The researchers called for a close inspection of the vaccine manufacturing process, adding that a further purification of the vaccines could improve their quality and would probably decrease the number and seriousness of adverse incidental effects.

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