A large study in Denmark found no link between aluminum in childhood vaccines and autism, asthma, or chronic disorders. This study refutes the false claims by HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and others that the aluminum in vaccines is somehow detrimental to the health of children.

I have written numerous articles debunking these claims about aluminum and vaccines, but the pseudoscientific tropes about aluminum persist. This new, powerful, large study should quash these claims, but it’s clear that RFK Jr only uses “science” to support his pre-existing views, so he and his acolytes will ignore this study.

You may be wondering why there is aluminum in vaccines. Let’s be clear, no one is grinding up aluminum cans and putting them into your child’s vaccine.

Aluminum adjuvants are added to vaccines to stimulate the immune response to the vaccine’s antigen. However, they do not induce any immunity to anything by themselves. The adjuvants need to be a part of the vaccine’s formulation to maximize the immune response to the antigen.

Aluminum adjuvants in vaccines have been used for over 70 years without any evidence that they cause harm. Unfortunately, these adjuvants have only become an issue for the anti-vaccine world because they keep running out of real science to support their beliefs about the safety of vaccines.

Let’s examine this new study and determine if it provides a clear refutation of the aluminum claims.

Vaccines and aluminum study

In a study published on 15 July 2025 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Niklas Worm Andersson, MD, PhD, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, and co-authors, examined the records of 1.2 million children in Denmark covering 24 years of data.

Here are some of their key results:

• The top line — cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccination during the first 2 years of life did not raise the risk of autism, asthma, or other chronic disorders.
• Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) per 1-mg increase in aluminum exposure were 0.93 (meaning a 7% decrease in risk) for any neurodevelopmental disorder, including autism spectrum disorder.
• HR of 0.98 (meaning a 2% decrease in risk) for any autoimmune disorder.
• HR of 0.99 (meaning a 1% decrease in risk) for any atopic or allergic disorder.
• None of the above results were statistically significant, but they show that there is no increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, autoimmune disorders, or allergic disorders as a result of increases in aluminum exposure from vaccines.

The authors concluded:

This nationwide cohort study did not find evidence supporting an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines.

Summary

Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust and is omnipresent in the foods we eat and the air that we breathe.

The amount of aluminum in vaccines (and remember, only a few vaccines have aluminum) is measured in micrograms (µg, or one-millionth of a gram). Infants receive about 4400µg of aluminum during their first six months from vaccines. That may sound like a lot, but let’s put this amount into the context of how much aluminum a baby consumes.

Let’s put this into context – a newborn baby averages a body burden of about 384 µg of aluminum. In addition, typical concentrations of aluminum in breast milk (10-49 µg/L), soy-based infant formula (460-930 µg/L), and milk-based infant formula (58-150 µg/L) mean breast-fed infants ingest about 7 mg, formula-fed infants consume about 38 mg, and infants fed soy formula get almost 117 mg of aluminum in those first 6 months. A baby also inhales several thousand micrograms of aluminum per day, unless they live in some bubble with ultra-pure air.

But let’s remember that this new, huge Danish study shows that aluminum does not appear to have any links to any chronic conditions, including autism.

I know that this study will not deter the anti-vaccine community from making aluminum in vaccines their cause, but the facts are the facts — aluminum adjuvants in vaccines are safe.

Citations

• Andersson NW, Bech Svalgaard I, Hoffmann SS, Hviid A. Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood : A Nationwide Cohort Study. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Jul 15. doi: 10.7326/ANNALS-25-00997. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40658954.

Help the Skeptical Raptor keep writing about vaccines

There are four ways you can help contribute to keeping this website running at full speed:

1. GoFundMe.
2. Contributing via Patreon.
3. Buying on Amazon.
4. Sharing this article on Social Media.