VEC Vaccine Notes

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Listen to “VEC Vaccine Notes,” a video and podcast series presented by the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Each episode offers vaccine information in a convenient format, so families have the answers they need to make informed decisions, including details and context that addresses what they may have heard in the news or in conversation with others.

This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as professional medical advice for your personal health or for your family's personal health. You should not use it to replace any relationship with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about vaccinations, medications and other treatments, you should always consult your physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2026 The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Episodes

Sep 23, 2026

Stabilizers: Gelatin and Polysorbate 80 & Vaccines - VEC Vaccine Notes | Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Sep 23, 2026

14 min

Find out how gelatin and polysorbate 80 protect vaccines during manufacturing, storage and transport. Charlotte Moser, Co-Director of the Vaccine Education Center, also addresses common safety and cultural concerns related to these two vaccine ingredients, including severe allergic reactions, unfounded claims regarding polysorbate 80 and fertility, and religious guidelines surrounding porcine-derived gelatin. The discussion also includes a comparison of the amounts found in vaccines to exposures encountered in everyday foods and products and clarifies the health effects, safety and practical takeaways for considering both ingredients.

Listen to the episode to find out:

How gelatin is made
The variety of products that contain gelatin and polysorbate 80
Which vaccine contains gelatin made from cows instead of pigs
Three reasons religions that do not allow consumption of pig products still support use of vaccines that contain gelatin made from pigs
The importance of the chemical structure of polysorbate 80
What micelles are
Four types of evidence against the idea that polysorbate 80 causes fertility issues

Check out the video version on YouTube.

To learn more about gelatin, please visit https://bit.ly/vec-gelatin.

To learn more about polysorbate 80, please visit https://bit.ly/polysorbate-80.

Questions? Submit the VEC Vaccine Notes form, https://bit.ly/contact-vec-vaccine-notes.

To learn more about vaccine ingredients, please visit https://bit.ly/vec-vax-ingredients.

For other vaccines, diseases or general questions about vaccines, check out https://vaccine.chop.edu/.