A new slate of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Thursday to recommend that Americans receive influenza vaccines that are free of thimerosal even though there is no evidence of harm from the preservative.

A key vaccine policy advisory group is recommending that the public not receive vaccines that have thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that’s used to prevent germs, fungus and bacteria from building up in vials.

The CDC's newly rebuilt Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) took aim Thursday at a mercury-based preservative long targeted by vaccine skeptics, recommending that children, pregnant women, and all other adults use only single-dose seasonal influenza vaccines without thimerosal.