Dr. Halsey's presentation at the National Vaccine Advisory Committee Workshop on Thimerosal and Vaccines held in Bethesda, Maryland on August 11-12, 1999.

Slide Notes:

The last point is that we need to have good science used for decision making in the review of alternatives to thimerosal and the effects on the final product from reducing or removing thimerosal from vaccines. We expect scientists at the Food and Drug Administration to help manufacturers address these problems. Instead of increasing the budget to address increasing numbers of safety concerns in the past five years, the budget for research at CBER (Center for Biologics and Related Products) has decreased to one third of what it was in 1994. This trend must be reversed in order to maintain the tradition of good science at the FDA and protect children against disease with the safest possible vaccines.