Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently suggested that aluminum in childhood vaccines could be a factor in the development of peanut allergies. Experts say there is no credible scientific evidence to support that claim and worry such statements could discourage vaccination.
At a Food Allergy Fund leadership forum, Kennedy said he didn’t believe a lack of early peanut exposure explained peanut allergies and noted that aluminum was introduced into vaccines around the time peanut allergies began increasing. He also said his agency plans to research food allergies and their causes.
Medical experts dispute Kennedy’s timeline and interpretation. Danelle Fisher, MD, a pediatrician in Santa Monica, CA, said, “Aluminum has been made a villain for many years. There’s no science behind it. You eat and breathe more aluminum in a day than you get in a vaccine.” Inderpal Randhawa, MD, an allergist and CEO of the Food Allergy Institute, added that aluminum has been part of most pediatric and adult vaccines for more than eight decades; if it caused food allergies, such allergies would have been rising continuously for far longer. Anne Liu, MD, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford, noted large studies have found no credible link between vaccinations and allergies, including food allergies.
Aluminum was first used in vaccines in 1926 as an adjuvant — a component that boosts the immune response so smaller amounts of antigen or fewer doses are needed. Aluminum is the third most abundant element on Earth and is ubiquitous in food, beverages, soil, consumer products, and many manufactured items. An infant receives a little over 4 mg of aluminum from vaccines in the first six months of life; breast milk and formula also contain trace amounts.
A July study of 1.2 million Danish children born 1997–2018 found that aluminum exposure from vaccines in the first two years was not associated with increased rates of any of 50 disorders studied, including food allergies.
Peanut and food allergy background
About 33 million people in the U.S. have a food allergy — roughly 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 13 children. Around half of adults with food allergies and about 40% of children report severe reactions; some reactions can be life-threatening anaphylaxis. Approximately 2% of U.S. children may have a peanut allergy, and up to 20% of those outgrow it as adults.
Concerns about rising peanut allergies emerged about 20 years ago. A 2010 report found that peanut allergy prevalence in U.S. children tripled between 1997 and 2008. Historically, parents were advised to avoid introducing potentially allergenic foods early, but by 2008 there was no convincing evidence that delaying introduction beyond six months prevented allergies.
The 2015 LEAP trial showed that introducing peanut-containing foods before a child’s first birthday significantly reduced the risk of peanut allergy by age 5. That finding prompted a reversal of earlier guidance: starting in 2017, clinicians began recommending gradual introduction of peanuts to infants. An October study found U.S. childhood peanut allergy rates fell after these guidelines, from 0.92% to 0.67% — a 27% reduction during a two-year observation period. Experts call this outcome notable evidence that early introduction is effective for many children.
Limitations and multifactorial causes
Scientists do not fully understand why peanut allergies develop. Contributing factors may include having other allergies, family history, skin issues like eczema, an underdeveloped immune system, and environmental factors such as vitamin D levels or pollen exposure. Experts emphasize peanut allergy development is multifactorial; early peanut introduction helps reduce risk but is not a complete solution, especially for children prone to multiple food allergies.
Public health concerns
Physicians stress the importance of routine childhood vaccinations for preventing serious infectious diseases like measles. Fisher warned that declining vaccination rates could lead to a resurgence of preventable illnesses. Liu and Randhawa echoed that unvaccinated children are at higher risk for infections that vaccines prevent or mitigate; when vaccination rates drop, community protection weakens and vulnerable populations — infants, pregnant people, the elderly, and the immunocompromised — are most at risk.
Bottom line
Current scientific evidence does not support a link between aluminum in vaccines and peanut or other food allergies. Aluminum has long been used as a vaccine adjuvant and is widespread in the environment and diet. Large studies have not found an association between vaccine aluminum exposure and increased allergy risk. Early introduction of peanut-containing foods, based on randomized trial evidence, appears to have reduced peanut allergy rates in children, but the development of food allergies remains complex and multifactorial.