"Inactive" Ingredients in Vaccines
Updated: 25 March 2017
(also available as a printable PDF)

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Every few years the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes a new edition of its "Pink Book," Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. In its Appendix B is a table (pp. B7-B10) entitled Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary: Excipients Included in U.S. Vaccines, by Vaccine. It lists all the "inactive" ingredients in each vaccine listed on the manufacturer's package insert.The CDC has published an updated version of the table with package-insert information as of January, 2017, which is the data presented in this table. Its header states:

In addition to weakened or killed disease antigens (viruses or bacteria), vaccines contain very small amounts of other ingredients – excipients or media.

Some excipients are added to a vaccine for a specific purpose. These include:
Preservatives, to prevent contamination. For example, thimerosal.
Adjuvants, to help stimulate a stronger immune response. For example, aluminum salts.
Stabilizers, to keep the vaccine potent during transportation and storage. For example, sugars or gelatin.

Others are residual trace amounts of materials that were used during the manufacturing process and removed. These include:
Cell culture materials, used to grow the vaccine antigens. For example, egg protein, various culture media.
Inactivating ingredients, used to kill viruses or inactivate toxins. For example, formaldehyde.
Antibiotics, used to prevent contamination by bacteria. For example, neomycin.

The following table lists all components, other than antigens, shown in the manufacturers' package insert (PI) for each vaccine. Each of these PIs, which can be found on the FDA's website (see below) contains a description of that vaccine's manufacturing process, including the amount and purpose of each substance. In most PIs, this information is found in Section 11: "Description."

All information was extracted from manufacturers' package inserts, current as of January 6, 2017.
If in doubt about whether a PI has been updated since then, check the FDA's website at:
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm093833.htm

However, while the by-vaccine organization of that table makes it useful for checking the contents of vaccines, it is not useful for seeing the range of vaccines that contain any one of these ingredients. A note at the foot of the published table points to a vaccines-by-excipient table in a book [Grabenstein JD. ImmunoFacts: Vaccines and Immunologic Drugs – 2013 (38th revision). St Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Health, 2012], but not to an online source. This table is designed to fill that need. A few notes about its construction:

  • Excipient names – Except for a very few instances (e.g., "formalin" changed to "formaldehyde," correcting misspellings, shuffling words for better sorting), the text is literally as it was in the original table. As a result, there are many cases of seemingly almost-duplicate listings for many of the components. But given that this adaptation was not based on deep knowledge of the vaccines themselves, it was considered safest to not lump these "duplicates" together, but only shuffle the words to allow them to sort adjacent to each other.
  • Dates – Package-insert dates were not provided in the updated table, so those in the 2015 table are provided here for reference, but the data is current as of the January 2017 inserts.
  • Categories – In order to facilitate grouping certain ingredients into potentially useful categories, those ingredients were duplicated and prefixed with headers -- medium, bovine, canine, monkey, porcine -- and thus will be found in two places in the table.
  • Growth Media – Many of the vaccine content listing include references to growth media. In two cases:
    DMEM  Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium
    M199Medium 199
    the contents of the medium were spelled out in the Excipient Table and could be listed separately here, identified as such by (DMEM) and (M199). However, there were many other non-itemized media. Until these can be broken out, they have all been grouped here under the general category "Media."
  • Abbreviations – To make the table more readable, excipient names have sometimes been shortened, with the remainder in footnotes; vaccines have been abbreviated with links to the full names in the vaccine list below it.
Other "Ingredients" – This table does not include inadvertent contaminants introduced in the manufacturing or storage process, such as the metal debris and biological contamination documented in a recent study. And it should be noted that manufacturers and distributers, since 1986, are not liable for damage from any materials contained in vaccines.


3-O-desacyl-4' Monophosphoryl lipid A HPV.C
2-phenoxyethanol DTap.D DTap+.Pn Polio Tdap.A
acetone Aden
alcohol Aden Men.Ma Men.Mo
alpha-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate Inf.Fa
aluminum hydroxide Anth DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd HepA.H HepAB.T HepB.E HPV.C
  aluminum hydroxide (cont) JapEnc MenB.B Tdap.B
aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate Hib.P
aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, amorph HepA.V HepB.R Hib+.C HPV.G HPV.G9
aluminum phosphate DTap.D DTap+.Pd DTap+.Pn HepAB.T Td.M Td.T Tdap.A
aluminum potassium sulfate DT Td.D
amino acid supplement HepA.H
amino acids Anth HepAB.T HepB.R Hib+.C HPV.C HPV.G HPV.G9 Inf.Fb
  amino acids (cont) Men.Mv Rot.R Typh.O
amino acids (M199) DTap+.Pn MMR Polio
amino acids solution (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
ammonium phosphate Td.M
ammonium sulfate DT DTap.D DTap+.Pn Hib.A Men.Ma Td.D Td.T Tdap.A
amphotericin B Rab.A
anhydrous lactose Aden
arginine Inf+.Fm
ascorbic acid Typh.O
asparagine BCG
bacterial protein HPV.C
baculovirus and cellular DNA Inf.Fb
baculovirus and host cell proteins Inf.Fb
barium Inf.Ag
benzethonium chloride Anth
beta-propiolactone Inf.Af Inf.Fc Inf.Fv Rab.A Rab.I
bovine: bovine albumin HepA.V
bovine: bovine extract DT
bovine: bovine muscle tissue (US sourced) Td.D
bovine: bovine serum DTap+.K Rab.A
bovine: bovine serum albumin DTap+.Pn JapEnc
bovine: calf serum DTap+.Pd MMRV Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
bovine: calf serum protein Polio
bovine: CMRL medium 1969 [1] DTap+.Pn
bovine: Fenton medium [2] DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd Tdap.B
bovine: fetal bovine serum Aden Rot.T Varic.F
bovine: fetal bovine serum (M199) DTap+.Pn MMR Polio
bovine: Latham medium [3] Tdap.B
bovine: Latham medium [3], mod DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd Td.M
bovine: polygeline (processed bovine gelatin) Rab.A
calcium carbonate Rot.R
calcium chloride Inf.Af
calcium chloride (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
canine: MDCK cell protein Inf.Fc
canine: MDCK cell DNA Inf.Fc
carbohydrates HPV.G HPV.G9
casamino acids Pneu.13
casein Typh.O
castor oil Aden
cell culture media Rot.T
cellulose acetate phthalate Aden
cetyltrimethylammonium bromide Inf.Ag Inf.Fc
chick embryo cell culture MMR MMRV
chicken protein Rab.A
chlortetracycline Rab.A
citric acid BCG
D-fructose Aden
D-glucose (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
D-mannose Aden
deoxycholate MenB.B
detergent Hib.P Hib+.C Men.Ma Men.Mo
dextran Rot.R
dextrose Aden HepB.R Hib+.C Typh.O
dimethyl 1-beta-cyclodextrin DTap.D
dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin Tdap.A
disodium phosphate Typh.I
E. coli MenB.B MenB.T
EDTA Inf+.Fm Varic.F
EDTA, sodium Rab.A
egg proteins Inf.Af Inf.Ag Inf.Fl Inf.Fv Inf.Fz Inf+.Fm Rab.A YelFev
enzymes Hib.P Hib+.C
ethanol Hib.P Hib+.C
FD&C Yellow #6 aluminum lake dye Aden
ferric (III) nitrate (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
formaldehyde Anth DT DTap.D DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd DTap+.Pn HepA.H
  formaldehyde (cont) HepA.V HepAB.T HepB.R Hib.A Hib.H Hib+.C Hib+.M Inf.Ag
  formaldehyde (cont) Inf.Fa Inf.Fl Inf.Fz JapEnc Men.Ma Men.Mv Polio Td.D
  formaldehyde (cont) Td.M Td.T Tdap.A Tdap.B Typh.I
galactose Typh.O
gelatin Typh.O YelFev
gelatin: (standard trivalent formulation only) Inf.Fz
gelatin: hydrolyzed gelatin MMR MMRV Varic.F Varic.R
gelatin: hydrolyzed porcine gelatin Inf+.Fm Zost.F Zost.R
gelatin: polygeline (processed bovine gelatin) Rab.A
gentamicin sulfate Inf.Fa Inf+.Fm
glutamate Varic.F Varic.R
glutamate (M199) DTap+.Pn MMR Polio
glutaraldehyde DTap.D DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd DTap+.Pn Tdap.A Tdap.B
glycerin BCG SPX
guinea pig cell cultures, embryonic Varic.F Varic.R
hemin chloride Hib+.C
HEPES SPX
hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide Typh.I
histidine MenB.B MenB.T
human albumin MMRV Rab.I
human diploid cell cultures (WI-38) Varic.F Varic.R
human diploid fibroblast cell cultures (WI-38) Aden
human diploid lung fibroblasts (WI-38) MMR MMRV
human embryonic lung cultures Varic.F Varic.R
human serum albumin Aden Rab.A SPX
hydrocortisone Inf.Fa
inorganic salts and sugars Anth
insect cell protein HPV.C
iron ammonium citrate BCG
kanamycin Inf.Ag MenB.B
L-cystine (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
L-glutamine (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
L-histidine HPV.G HPV.G9
L-tyrosine (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
lactalbumin hydrolysate DTap+.K DTap+.Pd
lactose BCG Hib.H Men.Mo Typh.O
lipids HPV.C Inf.Fb
magnesium stearate Aden Typh.O
magnesium sulfate BCG
magnesium sulfate (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
mannitol SPX
Media
medium: CMRL 1969 (suppl. w/ calf serum) DTap+.Pn
medium: complex fermentation Hib.P
medium: CY medium Men.Mv
medium: Eagle MEM (DMEM) mod Polio
medium: Fenton medium[2] DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd Tdap.B
medium: fermentation growth media MenB.T
medium: Franz complete medium Men.Mv
medium: Latham medium [3] Tdap.B
medium: Latham medium [3], mod DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd
medium: Minimum Essential Medium MMR
medium: Mueller Hinton agar Men.Ma
medium: Mueller Hinton casein agar Men.Mo
medium: Mueller-Miller Td.D
medium: Mueller-Miller [5] DTap+.Pn Tdap.A
medium: Mueller-Miller [5], mod DTap.D Td.T
medium: Mueller-Miller medium, mod DT Hib.A Men.Ma
medium: Mueller's growth medium DTap+.Pn
medium: Mueller's growth medium, mod DTap.D Tdap.A
medium: Mueller's media [4], mod Td.M
medium: semi-synthetic Hib.H Hib+.M Typh.I
medium: Stainer-Scholte medium DTap.D Tdap.A
medium: Stainer-Scholte medium [6] DTap+.Pn
medium: Stainer-Scholte medium, liquid Tdap.B
medium: Stainer-Scholte medium, liquid, mod DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd
medium: synthetic Hib+.M
medium: Watson Scherp media Men.Ma Men.Mo
 
micro crystalline cellulose Aden HepB.R
mineral salts Hib+.C HPV.C HPV.G HPV.G9 Inf.Fb
monkey kidney cells Polio
monkey: Vero (monkey kidney) cells DTap+.K DTap+.Pd JapEnc
monosodium glutamate Aden Inf+.Fm
monosodium L-glutamate MMRV Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
monosodium phosphate Typh.I
MRC-5 (human diploid) cells DTap+.Pn HepA.V HepAB.T MMRV Rab.I
MRC-5 (human diploid) cells [7] Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
MRC-5 (human diploid) cellular proteins HepA.H
neomycin DTap+.Pn HepA.V Inf.Fv MMR MMRV Polio Rab.A SPX
  neomycin (cont) Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
neomycin sulfate DTap+.K DTap+.Pd HepA.H HepAB.T Inf.Af Inf.Ag Rab.I
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide Hib+.C
nonylphenol ethoxylate Inf.Fv
ovalbumin Inf.Fa
peptone DT Td.D
phenol Hib.P Hib+.C Pneu.23 SPX Typh.I
phenol red (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
phenol red indicator Rab.I
phosphate MMR Varic.F Varic.R
phosphate buffer HepAB.T HepB.R Inf.Fa Inf.Fc Inf.Fl Inf.Fv
phosphate buffers HepB.E Inf.Fz Men.Ma
plasdone C Aden
polacrilin potassium Aden
polydimethylsiloxane Typh.I
polymyxin Inf.Fv
polymyxin B DTap+.K DTap+.Pd Inf.Af Polio SPX
polymyxin B sulfate DTap+.Pn
polysorbate 20 HepA.H HepAB.T Inf.Fb
polysorbate 80 DTap.I DTap+.K DTap+.Pd DTap+.Pn HPV.G HPV.G9 Inf.Ag Inf.Fc
  polysorbate 80 (cont) MenB.T Pneu.13 Rot.T
polysorbate 80 (Tween 80) Inf.Fa Tdap.B
porcine circovirus type 1 [8] Rot.R
porcine circoviruses type 1 and 2 DNA [9] Rot.T
porcine: hydrolyzed porcine gelatin Inf+.Fm Zost.F Zost.R
potassium aluminum sulfate HepB.R Hib+.C
potassium chloride Inf.Af MMRV Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
potassium chloride (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
potassium glutamate Rab.A
potassium phosphate Aden BCG
potassium phosphate, dibasic Inf+.Fm MMRV
potassium phosphate, monobasic Inf.Af Inf+.Fm MMRV Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
protamine sulfate JapEnc
recombinant human albumin MMR
sodium bicarbonate Aden MMRV
sodium borate HepA.V Hib+.C HPV.G HPV.G9
sodium citrate Rot.T
sodium deoxycholate Inf.Fa Inf.Fl
sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate HepB.E HPV.C
sodium hydrogenocarbonate (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
sodium hydroxide Rot.T
sodium metabisulphite JapEnc
sodium phosphate (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
sodium phosphate, dibasic Inf.Af Inf.Fb MMRV Varic.F Varic.R Zost.F Zost.R
sodium phosphate, monobasic Inf.Af Inf.Fb Varic.F Varic.R
sodium phosphate, monobasic monohydrate Rot.T
sodium pyruvate (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
sodium taurodeoxycholate Inf.Af
sorbitol MMR MMRV Rot.R YelFev
soy peptone HepB.R Hib+.C
soy peptone broth Pneu.13
streptomycin Polio
succinate buffer Pneu.13
sucrose Aden DTap+.Pn Hib.A Hib+.M Inf.Af Inf.Fa Inf.Fz Inf+.Fm
  sucrose (cont) JapEnc MenB.B MMRV Rot.R Rot.T Typh.O Varic.F Varic.R
  sucrose (cont) Zost.F Zost.R
sucrose (M199) DTap+.Pn MMR Polio
thimerosal Inf.Fl Td.D
thimerosol (multi-dose vial only) Inf.Af Inf.Fz Men.Mo
thimerosal (multi-dose vial) [10] Inf.Fv
thimerosal (trace) DT Td.M
tris (trometamol)-HCl Hib+.M
Triton X-100 Inf.Fb
Triton X-100 (octoxynol-10) Inf.Fa
Triton X-100 (octylphenol ethoxylate) Inf.Fz
urea Varic.R Zost.R
viral protein HPV.C
vitamin solution, concentrated (DMEM) Aden Rot.R
vitamins Anth HPV.C HPV.G HPV.G9 Inf.Fb
vitamins (M199) DTap+.Pn MMR Polio
xAnthan Rot.R
yeast Pneu.13
yeast [11] Hib+.C
yeast extract Men.Mv Typh.O
yeast protein DTap+.Pd HepAB.T HepB.E HepB.R HPV.G HPV.G9

Footnotes

  1. supplemented with calf serum
  2. containing bovine extract
  3. derived from bovine casein
  4. containing bovine extracts
  5. casamino acid medium (without beef heart infusion)
  6. (modified by the addition of casamino acids and dimethyl-betacyclodextrin)
  7. residual components, including DNA and protein
  8. PCV-1 is present in Rotarix, not known to cause disease in humans.
  9. PCV-1 and PCV-2 DNA has been detected in RotaTeq. PCV-1 and PCV-2 are not known to cause disease in humans.
  10. trace only in prefilled syringe
  11. vaccine contains no detectable yeast DNA


Vaccines in the CDC Excipient Table
with the (non-CDC) abbreviation used in this table, and the manufacturer's package insert date as of 2015

AdenAdenovirus – March 2011
AnthAnthrax (Biothrax) – May 2012
BCGBCG (Tice) – February 2009
DTDT (Sanofi) – December 2005
DTap.DDTaP (Daptacel) – October 2013
DTap.IDTaP (Infanrix) – November 2013
DTap+.KDTaP-IPV (Kinrix) – November 2013
DTap+.Pd  DTaP-HepB-IPV (Pediarix) – November 2013
DTap+.PnDTaP-IPV/Hib (Pentacel) – October 2013
Hib.AHib (ActHIB) – January 2014
Hib.HHib (Hiberix) – March 2012
Hib.PHib (PedvaxHIB) – December 2010
Hib+.CHib/Hep B (Comvax) – December 2010
Hib+.MHib/Mening. CY (MenHibrix) – 2012
HepA.HHep A (Havrix) – December 2013
HepA.VHep A (Vaqta) – February 2014
HepB.EHep B (Engerix-B) – December 2013
HepB.RHep B (Recombivax) – May 2014
HepAB.THep A/Hep B (Twinrix) – August 2012
HPV.CHuman Papillomavirus (HPV) (Cerverix) – November 2013
HPV.GHuman Papillomavirus (HPV) (Gardasil) – June 2014
HPV.G9Human Papillomavirus (HPV) (Gardasil 9) – December 2014
Inf.AfInfluenza (Afluria) – December 2013
Inf.AgInfluenza (Agriflu) – 2013
Inf.FaInfluenza (Fluarix) Trivalent and Quadrivalent – June 2014
Inf.FbInfluenza (Flublok) – March 2014
Inf.FcInfluenza (Flucelvax) – March 2014
Inf.FvInfluenza (Fluvirin) – February 2014
Inf.FlInfluenza (Flulaval) Trivalent and Quadrivalent – February 2013
Inf.FzInfluenza (Fluzone: Standard (Trivalent and Quadrivalent), High-Dose, & Intradermal) – 2014
Inf+.FmInfluenza (FluMist) Quadrivalent – July 2013
JapEncJapanese Encephalitis (Ixiaro) – May 2013
Men.MaMeningococcal (MCV4Menactra) – April 2013
Men.MvMeningococcal (MCV4Menveo) – August 2013
Men.MoMeningococcal (MPSV4Menomune) – April 2013
MenB.BMeningococcal (MenB – Bexsero) – 2015
MenB.TMeningococcal (MenB – Trumenba) – October 2015
MMRMMR (MMR-II) – June 2014
MMRVMMRV (ProQuad) – March 2014
Pneu.13Pneumococcal (PCV13 – Prevnar 13) – January 2014
Pneu.23Pneumococcal (PPSV-23 – Pneumovax) – May 2014
PolioPolio (IPV – Ipol) – May 2013
Rab.IRabies (Imovax) – April 2013
Rab.ARabies (RabAvert) – March 2012
Rot.TRotavirus (RotaTeq) – June 2013
Rot.RRotavirus (Rotarix) – May 2014
SPxSmallpox (Vaccinia – ACAM2000) – September 2009
Td.DTd (Decavac) – March 2011
Td.TTd (Tenivac) – April 2013
Td.MTd (Mass Biologics) – February 2011
Tdap.ATdap (Adacel) – March 2014
Tdap.BTdap (Boostrix) – February 2013
Typh.ITyphoid (inactivated – Typhim Vi) – March 2014
Typh.OTyphoid (oral – Ty21a) – September 2013
Varic.FVaricella (Varivax) Frozen – March 2014
Varic.RVaricella (Varivax) Refrigerator Stable – March 2014
YelFevYellow Fever (YF-Vax) – May 2013
Zost.FZoster (Shingles – Zostavax) Frozen – February 2014
Zost.RZoster (Shingles – Zostavax) Refrigerator Stable – February 2014