JEFFERSON CITY, MO. (AP) -- Missouri's health director has granted an exemption to a law requiring mercury-free vaccines for young children and pregnant women.
Health director Margaret Donnelly says she suspended the requirement because of a shortage of swine flu vaccines that do not contain a mercury-based preservative.
A 2005 law prohibits vaccines containing more than a trace amount of mercury from being given to children younger than 3 or pregnant women. But the law allows the state health director to declare an exemption from the requirement when there is a shortage of vaccine or an epidemic.
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